


Flaming Silhouettes

by DayLightDove



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Angst, Blind!Rin, Drama, Fatherly!Satan, Hurt/Comfort, No pairings - Freeform, au-ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-01 21:37:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 66,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5221802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DayLightDove/pseuds/DayLightDove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(AU-ish) What if his flames had not forced their way out as quickly as they had? The day he found out he was Satan's son was also the day he lost his sight. Now all he could see was darkness and flaming silhouettes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OK so this is a new story of mine. I've seen there is a lack of blind people stories in this fandom, so here this is!  
> Now, I do not own BE/ANE.  
> Onto the chapter!

 

Rin shouted out as he was pushed to the ground and held down. He struggled to get out of their grip but they just wouldn't budge. His gaze went back to Shiratori. There was something wrong with him! And why the hell didn't any of the others see this?!

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I'm going to give you back twice the pain you caused me!" Shiratori said as he grabbed a burning metal rod from a fire filled can. Rin's eyes widened with fear as he fought even harder to free himself from their grasp, sadly still unsuccessful.

"Hey, come on Shiratori, we don't want t-" One of the guys tried to speak up only for their leader to kick him in the face.

"Shut up!" The Shiratori knelt down and gripped Rin's hard and yanked his head up to face him. "Now, where would you like me to burn you? Your nose? Your mouth? Or perhaps your eyes?!" With that he began to bring the bar closer to Rin's face as he laughed. For a single moment, the other seemed to freeze and hesitate in his actions, but it was barely even a second.

_'He's really going to do it!"_ Rin thought with panic. "Stop it!" He screamed but no one listened. For a moment, Rin swore there was a flicker of blue upon his skin but it was gone once he looked at it.

"A human barbecue!" Shiratori laughed as the bar was an inch from his eyes. He was trembling, having difficulty in holding the bar, but Rin could only assume the psycho was trembling with anticipation.

"STOP IT!" Rin once again screamed and again he saw the flicker of blue. But as soon as he moved his eyes to see it, the flaming bar touched them. Instantly, the pain hit him. He screamed as his eyes were burned and scarred. He prayed for anything to make it stop as it was all he could feel. He could barely hear anything over the sound of his blood curdling screams.

And then suddenly, he felt a rush of warmth envelop him. It was nothing compared to the intense pain from him eyes but it felt protective and even helped him relax to an extent. He lay upon the ground whimpering and moaning in pain as he felt the heat seem to gather upon him eyes as though trying to heal the wounds there. And for a second he believed he could see a small light of blue through his eyelids but he didn't focus much on it, couldn't focus on it. Not with the pain he was feeling.

"Damn it!" He felt a clawed hand upon his arm and he flinched at the contact. "I apologize you had to go through this young prince I didn't think his anger would be so strong! My name is Astaroth, your brother, and I simply wanted to prove it was you. But don't worry, I shall take you home to Gehenna and Lord Satan, our father, shall heal you." There was a growl in his voice Rin couldn't place, but he really couldn't focus with all the pain. Rin wanted to question what he was talking about, to object when he those clawed hands bring him into a firm chest, but all he could let out was a weak moan.

"It is alright little brother. Our father will help you."

"Evil is in their hearts," A familiar voice spoke. Astaroth, who was currently holding Rin in his arms, growled at the sight of Shiro as he walked toward them, lowering Rin back to the ground as he glared at the man who continued the passage. "Oh Lord, give to them according to their works and the wickedness of their inventions. According to the works of their hands, render onto them their reward. Thout shall destroy them and thout shall not build them up!"

Astaroth growled at Shiro. "Curse those words. Damn you exorcist!"

Shiro only gave the demon a smile. "Blessed be the Lord."

"I'll rip that fucking mouth of yours apart so you can never utter such filth again!" With that Astaroth began rushing at Shiro, prepared to strike him down.

"You have heard my sublication." Shiro continued, just standing there as the demon rushed at him. "The Lord is my helper." He grabbed the arm that slashed at him. "And my protector," He flipped the demon over. "Thout shalt perish!" With that he aimed his hand at the body and the demon flew from the teen's mouth.

Shiro let the body drop to the ground before he turned to the other teen on the ground, the reason he was here. He rushed to Rin's side and grimaced when he turned him to look at him face. All around his eyes was burnt skin that bled and blistered. He could catch red beneath the black crusted lids and it made him frown deeper.

"Rin." He called, lightly tapping the teen's cheek. "Rin can you hear me? I'm going to get you home."

Rin let out a rough sounding moan as he tried and failed to open his eyes. "O-Old…m-m-an?" He croaked out from his throat that was sore from screaming.

"Sh…it's going to be alright Rin." Shiro hushed, placing his hands beneath Rin and lifting him into his arms, Rin letting out a soft cry as this happened.

"W-What…what's going…on?" Rin let out with a moan, his hands curling into Shiro's jacket in a wrinkling grip. Shiro's heart wept at the sound of Rin's moan. The pain that laced his voice was much different from anything he had heard before.

"Hush, don't worry about that right now." Shiro said as he began to leave the alley, subtly quickening his pace as he moved through the streets. Rin was silent in his arms, save for his sharp intakes of breath at times. Shiro knew he needed to get home quickly if he was going to help Rin as well as defend against the demons he knew were seeking their "prince".

When he made it to the monastery, he directed the other priests to barricade the doors and to call Yukio while he cared to Rin, not pausing for a second even as they had each asked what happened.

Shiro cared for Rin's wounds, grimacing even more at any discomfort he caused him. When that was done, he laid Rin within his room while he opened up the passage way beneath the altar. Heading down it, he opened up the chest within it and stared down at the sword within. He could clearly see how much the locked up flames had broken past the seal, and he knew he needed to get both Rin and the sword to safety. Outside, he could hear the demons trying to break through the barrier to reach Rin.

With quick steps, Shiro was back within his room, placing the sword near Rin as he took out his phone. He pressed the number of the contact within it and held it up to his ear.

_Ring…Ring…Ring…Ring…Ring…Ring…I apologize but I'm n-_

Shiro scowled at the phone in his hand as he stopped the call. "Damn it Mephisto." He hissed beneath his breath.

"…Dad?"

Shiro's breath caught at the raspy voice that called to him with a name he hasn't heard in years. He turned and swiftly moved over to the bed, placing a hand on Rin's shoulder and on top of the hand that was clenching and unclenching the sheets.

"I'm right here Rin." Shiro said, but he would admit, he was surprised Rin was already awake.

"W-What's happening?" RIn asked once more, his head tilting slightly in the direction of Shiro's voice.

Shiro bit his lip, deciding whether or not he should tell Rin all that was happening. However, it seemed Rin could sense his turmoil because he suddenly growled out in the strongest voice he could muster at the moment.

"D-Don't hide…anything from m-me…old man." At the name Shiro cracked a small smile before it vanished with the sigh he let out.

"There is no simple way to put this Rin," He said, his hand gripping Rin's tighter. "But…there are demons coming after you, coming to grab you and pull you down into their world, Gehenna-this world's mirror world, which is known as Assiah."

Rin let out a short laugh. "D-Don't mess with m-"

"I'm not kidding around Rin." From his tone of voice, Rin quieted, learning this was not a joking matter. It was silent for a few moments before RIn choked up.

"W-Why? Why…are they aft-er me?"

Shiro swallowed. "It is because of your bloodline, your true father that they seek you out." Shiro took a deep breath and kept Rin from speaking as he finally let out the secret he had been keeping for all these years. "Rin…your father is the demon of all demons. You…are the son of Satan."

It was silent, one would hear a pin drop if the noise outside did not fill the still air. After a few moments, Rin spoke up, his bound eyes tilting up in an attempt to stare at Shiro, who could only guess that if this had not happen, those eyes would be large and swimming with emotions.

"Y-You kidding…right?" Rin choked out, not wanting to believe that he was truly a demon child after all. "This is all one big joke!"

"It is _no joke_ Rin." Shiro once again forced. "It is the truth, the only reason why you are not a demon, not dead, is because I wanted to raise you as a normal human. To do so, your demon half was locked within the Koma Sword, this one right here." With that he moved the sword so Rin's hands could brush against it, to feel the reality of the situation. "As long as it stays sealed, you'll remain human."

As for Rin, he knew no matter how much he denied it, the proof was all right here. It could explain his inhuman strength and the sword that now rested in his hands. That weird teen and creatures he saw, and perhaps even those blue flames that the man-demon?-had mentioned, that flash of blue he had seen within the darkness of his vision. However, if he was a demon, what about-

"Yukio?"

"Completely human." Shiro answered. "Only you took on Satan's powers." Then he took another pause before continuing. "And now, I must get you to a safe place, before any of the demons get to you. I tried calling my friend how could help you, but he wasn't answering. For now, I suppose you need to rest while I'll get you're things packed and ready for the time you have to go. How quickly it will come, I cannot say, but you need to be ready."

"So you're just going to get rid of me now that I'm a big enough problem?" Rin choked out making Shiro stare at him in shock. "Well, fine! I don't need you to baby me! I-!"

"Rin stop it!" Shiro exclaimed grabbing the boy's arms, cutting him off. "I'm not getting rid of you!" He sighed, his grip loosening on the other. "I'm just trying to keep you safe. I'm not going to leave you Rin, especially now! What do you take me for, a heartless old man?!" That got a small smile from Rin.

They jumped when an agonizing scream filled the building and Shiro turned to see one of the other exorcists fall to the ground unconscious while another started to burn in blue flames.

"No!" Shiro gasped at the sight as the flames vanished before appearing once more around another one of the men.

"W-What the hell is happening?!" Rin exclaimed, his covered eyes trying to pinpoint the sources while at the same time not wanting to hear the pained screams anymore.

"I have to get you away from here!" Shiro replied, turning to Rin. He forced the sword into the teen's hands and went to pick him up when Rin suddenly clutched his ears and screamed. He could hear so many different twisted voices calling to him, however, one stuck out among the others. This one was deep and was trying to dig deep into his mind as if trying to find a way to communicate with him.

Shiro had jumped when Rin began screaming, face scrunching up beneath the gauze. His heart broke for the teen and he truly felt fear for Rin after all these years, fear he wouldn't be able to keep him from the demons. And, even though he kept it down, kept the fear from showing as he called to the boy curled up on the bed so he could fight to keep him safe…it was still enough. The fear was pure enough for it to be used.

And that's what happened.

"Rin! Rin what is it?! Tel-" Shiro cut off, words caught in his throat and his eyes grew wide. For Rin, that distinctive voice stopped and he was able to focus on the sudden silence from Shiro.

"Wha-" His covered eyes searched for Shiro and he called out only to get a choked reply.

"G-Get out of here Rin!" Shiro exclaimed as he stumbled backwards, away from the teen as he continued to try and fight off the powerful demon aiming to possess him.

"O-Old man?" Rin called out with a shaky voice.

"R-Rin get-" He was cut off once more and for a moment it was quiet before laughter filled the air.

"Oh it's so nice to finally get to meet you!" An insane voice rang out from Shiro's body as his form took on a demonic one. His voice changed to caring for a moment, "I've missed you, and so have your brothers. But-" It suddenly changed to insane once more. "You wouldn't listen to me when I tried to contact you!"

"W-Who-" Rin asked as he tried to scramble out of the bed, blindly searching for a way to avoid the heat that radiated from the spot before him.

"You haven't guess?!" Another laugh. "It's me, your real papa, Satan!" He began to walk forward and Rin could feel he was closer than he was before, whateve was making that heat coming right in front of him.

"Oh! My son, what happened to your eyes?" Was the concern he heard for a moment in the King of Demon's voice? Why? He didn't get to dwell on it as it was gone with an insane laugh. "What? You burn yourself on your flames?! KAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Stay away from me!" Rin cried. At that moment, he felt a familiar heat rush over his skin and he once again saw a flash of blue across his vision, which lingered longer than before.

"What did you just piss your pants are something?" Satan laughed before suddenly stopping his voice dropping to a serious tone, one that wasn't as insane and almost seemed normal. "It seems we're running out of time, this body is decaying quickly." Rin heard a crunch and snap of a bone braking and then something-blood he had to guess-splattering on the floor. Then there was a shifting and a foul stench filled the air.

_'What is that?'_ Rin thought, his hand going up to block his nose.

Almost as if his thoughts had been spoken out loud, Satan spoke. "The Gehenna Gate, the gateway between Assiah and Gehenna." Suddenly a clawed hand that used to be comforting curled around his arm and began pulling him toward what he guessed was the gate. "Come, it's time to finally get your demon powers back!"

"Let me go!" Rin cried struggling in the grip as he reached out to try and grab anything that could keep him from the gate. He felt his hand circle around something hard, but it only came with him. He suddenly felt himself being tossed through the air and land in something that felt disgusting-something that he could only guess is the Gehenna Gate. What felt like bubbly heads made of oil and slime grip onto his body and begin to cover him. He shifted and struggled within them, trying to fight and free himself.

"You'll finally come to your true home and become what you were meant to be!" Satan exclaimed somewhere behind him. "My son is final-" His rant was suddenly cut off by a voice Rin thought he would never hear again.

"No," Shiro's voice came out. He heard something like a neckless move before a grunt pierced the air. "No, this is my son, and I'm taking him back." Rin could hear him cough and something splatter on the ground causing a feeling a dread to fill him.

"Damn you exorcists." Satan hissed out and it was at that moment, Shiro's body fell forward and into the Gehenna Gate. Rin heard the sound as he fell into the gate, his ears instantly trying to pinpoint the sound. He scrambled through the substance that made up the gate his hands reaching around for anything to grab.

Then he felt something, two somethings to be exact. As he had moved through the gate, he felt a familiar sword half sunken within the goo. The other thing he felt was what he dreaded, the still body of Shiro Fujimoto. As his hands met the body, he could feel the sticky substance of both the gate and what could only be blood.

"Old man? Old man come on! Wake up!" Rin called to him, shaking him but with no effect. "Dad!" He could feel the tears wanting to form in his eyes alongside the lump in his throat but he swallowed it down. "Hold on! Just hold on, Dad!"

With that Rin reached out again, searching for the sword. When he felt it, he curled his hand around the sheath while his other moved down the length of it to grip the hilt. It was for only a breath that he hesitated, knowing that if he did this, he would no longer keep the demon side locked away, just as Shiro had told him. But, he knew it was the only chance he had at saving both himself and Shiro.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled the hilt outward and he was instantly hit with the effects as he swung it at the gate beneath him. As his arms moved, he felt the flames wash over his body in full force, but the heat that fell over him was warm and comforting. He could feel a shifting to his body, feathers forming or growing that were not that of a humans. He could also feel the flames gathering both within his sword as it struck the gate and near his eyes, swirling and moving over them in a fashion that reminded him of a healing lotion or water.

Then he was sheathing the sword and the floor had returned beneath him. The cloth that bound his eyes still helped keep his eyes in the darkness that had become his world, but he also felt no more crusted blood or burnt skin beneath it. He also knew there were changes to his body, but all those thoughts went away when one of his hands moved from the sword to the body that lay next to him.

"Dad?" He called out quietly.

Silence.

He tried to listen for any breathing, but his was hard to hear past his own ragged and quick ones. He let his hands move across the body, almost gagging when he felt the bloody cover his own hands. He thought he could feel a heartbeat, but he could be sorely mistaken for his own frantic heart. A sob broke past his lips as he thought about the fact that Shiro may be dead because he wanted to protect Rin. Rin prayed and begged for him to not be dead, tears falling from beneath the soiled gauze and onto Shiro's still body and Rin's grasping hands.

He didn't care about the sounds of footsteps he could hear through his newly enhanced hearing. He didn't care if anyone would hear or see him. All he knew was he couldn't keep his heartbroken sobs back any longer and he clutched his adoptive father's chest as he choked out his single plea that was no louder than a whisper.

"Daddy."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Satan is Fatherly!Satan and it will also have my usually demon kings. Shiro's death was important. Also, before anyone asks, this is not going to directly follow the manga or the anime. It will branch off into its own plot.

Rin gripped the cold limp hand of his father figure as he sat beside his bed in the hospital. It was amazing he was even alive. Rin remembered hearing his brother rushing in as well as the sound of other things, but it was all honestly hazy in his mind. When everything had come back to focus, Rin had found himself in the hospital and his brother told him that he had been brought there to make sure he was ok.

His other hand went up to his uncovered eyes. Apparently, there were no signs of the burns that had originally been on his face, however his eyes hadn't heled beyond that point. Because of this, the doctors had given him one of those canes to use to get around, not that he wanted to use it. He didn't want to admit but all of these sudden changes made him afraid, not that he'd admit it to Yukio that is.

He thought about those moments only a few hours ago when he discovered the extent of the changes made to his body.

* * *

_Rin listened as Yukio left his room, but he didn't bother to listen to the reasoning behind it. Currently he was focused on the fact he was now blind. Rin lifted his fingers to his face, specifically to the skin around his eyes. He traced over the skin that should have been scabbed over or covered with scars but all he felt was smooth skin. As his hand traced his own face, he ended up moving too far to a side and brushed his ear. He gasped when he felt the slight point made to it, and made a move to lick his lips only to feel the sharper canines. Is this what happened to him when he unsheathed the sword? He shivered at the idea of what he looks like now when he suddenly felt a natural yet unnatural shift of a limb._

_Moving his hands toward the feeling, he moved his fingers to touch it. As soon as he did, he shivered at how sensitive it felt, taking a deep breath to control himself. He then moved his hands down it and soon took in the realization that this appendage was a tail, one that was covered with thin fur until it reached a large fluffy end._

_The idea that he now had a tail made him shiver. What did he look like now? Was it obvious that he was not human?_

_He but his lip and felt his newly sharpened canines pierce his lip. This was all happening so fast and none of it made any sense. Suddenly he's blind but the scars didn't remain and he was also a demon. This made no sense and Rin was almost overwhelmed by it. Not only that but somehow, despite all that happened, his father survived but was in a coma. Was all of this karma for something? Everything just seemed to be spiraling downhill._

* * *

"Rin?"

Rin blinked his sightless eyes at the sound of his brother's voice. He hadn't realized how much he had gotten lost in thought.

"Rin, are you alright?" Yukio asked, making Rin turn to look towards were his brother was seated in the room.

"I'm fine Yukio." He replied quietly making Yukio furrow his eyebrows in worry. He was about to ask another question when Rin suddenly gasped.

Rin stared at Yukio, shocked at what was suddenly in his supposedly sightless vision. He either didn't notice it before or it just appeared but there was a blue glow almost like flames in his vision. It wasn't much, but as his focused on the glow, it became more like flames as it made out a shape. His brother! Or, rather the outline of what would be his brother. There wasn't anything else in his darkened world, just the thin silhouette of his brother's body, but still! It was something! He was about to open his mouth and inform his brother when he froze.

He was hesitant to tell his brother about this. Rin figured that Yukio most likely knew nothing about demons, so his healed eyes and changed appendages must be a mystery to him. But it also meant that suddenly explaining he could see a fiery blue light that made up figures would be added to the list of oddities. Deciding he didn't want to tell Yukio about this discovery, he kept his mouth shut.

"Rin?" He heard his brother call once more.

"It's nothing Yukio, don't worry so much." He gave a weary smile. Yukio watched his brother, not trusting his words, especially with what just had happened. Rin was always a terrible liar.

His mind drifted to when he had arrived and found his brother weeping over their father's limp form.

* * *

_"Rin?!" Yukio exclaimed, crouching beside his brother, calling his name a few more times trying to get his attention. His eyes were instantly drawn to the changes on his brother: his tail, pointed ears, and, most of all, the gauze around his eyes. Why was that there?_

_He could hear the sound of other exoricsts arriving to assist the damage and Yukio thought fast, quickly hiding Rin's newly formed tail in his pants and pulling the sobbing teen into his arms. It hurt to see his brother like this._

_Yukio watched as the other exorcists came in, quickly taking away the still form of their father to doctors along with the other clergy men who were passed out. Yukio regained his composure and gathered Rin into his arms, along with the sword, and brought him over to the other exorcists._

_"I need help accessing the damage to his eyes." Yukio explained to one of the other doctor exorcists. "I've already taken care of all other wounds but I have no idea what could've happened to his eyes."_

_The exorcists raised an eyebrow at the prodigy. "And why can't you access his eyes? That should be easy to do."_

_Yukio shook his head. "He doesn't know I'm an exorcist and for now I'd like it to stay that way. I need him to have a room at the hospital so we can deal with anything that may have happened without him getting suspicious. I can help out while I can, but when he wakes I need him to not associate me with any of this. And don't bring up anything about demons."_

_The exorcist was about to reply ince more when another exorcist spoke up. "Understood. I'm sure you have your reasons." Yukio gave him a nod in response._

_So they took everyone to the hospital. During this time, Yukio watched as higher doctors somehow saved their father before he went to Rin. A little after that he discovered his brother was blind now, but he didn't understand how. With no wounds other than his blindness, it was difficult how to determine how this occurred. Rin never said anything, only sitting quietly on the bed._

* * *

Yukio came out of the memory by the sound of his brother shifting in his seat. He watched as Rin's blue and milky eyes watched unfocusedly toward their father in the bed. It struck his heart at how broken his family has become and he didn't even know how it happened. Yukio was still clueless as to how all this had come about.

He sighed and stood up, watching as Rin twitched and tilted his head in his direction.

"I need to leave for a bit. Please don't leave the room, Rin." Rin nodded in reply. He listened as Yukio left, but he remained focused on Shiro. There was a glow of blue flames around what would be his body too, but they were weaker and smaller than those around Yukio. No doubt corresponding with his current situation.

"It's quite a sad sight isn't it?" A voice suddenly spoke making Rin jump. "Seeing a good man like this."

"What the-Who the hell are you!" Rin exclaimed in shock, turning to the direction of the voice. His focus was momentarily drawn to the light around the man. It was brighter then Yukio's, as though it gave off an indication of power.

"Just a friend of your father's come to do a job asked long ago." The man replied.

"Wha-" As Rin began the question, he was cut off by the cocking of guns and realization hit him. "Exorcist."

"Correct!" His sing song voice rang out. "It's a shame to have to do this Son of Satan, so I'll give you two choices here. You can either let us kill you easily without any trouble or you can take us out and be on the run. Oh! And there is also the choice of killing yourself so I guess that leaves you with three choices! So which will it be?"

Rin gapped at him. Was he serious?! This man, supposedly a friend of the Old Man, was here to kill him!? And he was an exorcist too!? Then there was his three choices. No. No he was not just going to accept that!

"Wait!" Rin exclaimed in a desperate attempt to save himself. "You can't do this here in the Old Man's room and I can't let you just kill me! Not when he saved me!"

"So you choose option two then? Not a wise choice I might say but-"

"No!" Rin cut him off. "No. I'll…I…Let me be an exorcist!"

Silence.

Rin was huffing as he waited the reply of the other. When it came, it only irritated him more. The man began laughing. And loudly at that. Rin wouldn't be surprised if the man gained some odd looks.

"W-What?!" Rin exclaimed toward the laughing man.

When his laughter called down, the man spoke. "You expect me to let the son of Satan become an exorcist instead of killing you? And why, pray tell, should I do that?"

"So I can kick Satan's ass!" Rin declared.

"Really?" Rin could hear the curious hum and long with laughter in his voice but what he couldn't see was the devilish smirk that came to the man's lips. Suddenly the man clapped. "Well if that's what you plan on doing then I can't see why you can't be an exorcist!"

Protests came from the other exorcists asking this man (Sir Pheles from what Rin could catch) why he would allow this. He gave no answer other than laughter before he was approaching Rin once more.

"Well dear boy, I should introduce myself now." He said. "My name is Mephisto Pheles, Chairman of True Cross Academy. I'm also your guardian now."

* * *

Rin tapped his foot impatiently and scowled as he as Yukio waited to be picked up by Mephisto. After their confrontation yesterday, Mephisto had somehow gotten the exorcists to forget about their conversation and leave before he explained to Rin he would be helping him get into True Cross and the exorcist cram school. He would have to have special classes in the normal school for his blindness since he needed to adapt to such an impairment now. As for cram school, Mephisto explained he would help him around the first day. Rin asked about the other days but he wasn't given an answer.

Rin opened his mouth to complain to Yukio when the feeling of wind whipping past him along with the sound of a car stopping quickly made him jump backwards and onto the ground in surprise. He heard the door open and there was suddenly a figure in the darkness of his vision.

Rin sprang up and growled at the man. "What the hell!? Are you trying to run me over?!"

Mephisto ignored him. "I'm here! Now, if you would put your luggage in the trunk and get in, we can get on our way."

"You get in the car Ni-san, I'll take care of the bags." Yukio spoke up getting an ok from his brother. He watched him move cautiously toward the vehicle and groaned when he notice his brother not using the cane he was given. "Rin-"

"I don't need it!" Rin growled back, already knowing what his brother was groaning about. His pride was not allowing him to use the cane, even if Yukio explained it would let him act independently. It took him a while but soon he made it to the care and he gave a huff of triumph to his brother, who only rolled his eyes. As he got in, he took notice right away that it was larger than a normal car and decided to ask.

"What kind of car is this?"

"Does it matter?" Yukio questioned as he got in the car.

"Yes!"

Mephisto chuckled. "If it matters that much, it is a limo."

"Really! That's so cool!" Rin exclaimed, a bright smile on his face. He started moving his hands around the limo, trying to see it through touch which got a yell from Mephisto

Yukio held back a smile as he looked at his brother. It was nice to see him smiling after everything that had gone down, everything that happened to him. Even though his own heart still hurt at the loss of Shiro, he couldn't deny that seeing Rin like this help ease the sorrow that had come over them for the last few days.

Yukio sighed, looking out the window. In the distance he could see the city of True Cross drawing near. It would only be a matter of time before everything unraveled.


	3. Chapter 3

Once they reached the academy, Mephisto told them to go explore the campus while he took their things to the dorm they would be staying at. Yukio told Rin to take his cane but the later once again didn't want to and told Mephisto to take it with him. The man agreed much to Rin's joy and Yukio's displeasure.

Rin did take one thing though. The Koma Sword wrapped in a red bag he put over his shoulder. He refused to go without it. He listened to the sound of Mephisto leaving just as his brother spoke up.

"It would be a lot easier for you if you took the cane." Rin scowled.

"I don't need the cane." He grumbled. "I can get around just fine without it."

"Last time I checked, I helped lead you around." Yukio replied. "And you can't see. Why do you think you can get around without it?"

Rin opened his mouth to reply, to tell his brother how he could see the silhouettes but he stopped. He couldn't tell him, he probably wouldn't understand. Yukio would most likely call him crazy.

"Rin?" He shook his head.

"It's nothing Yukio. Come on let's go!" He started walking away which made his brother chase after him, shouting out in worry.

When the time came for the class assembly Yukio helped Rin to one of the seats. Rin could feel the eyes of the other students watching him as he stumbled after his brother, who in return made sure Rin wouldn't fall. When Rin sat down, he let his eyes glide over the numbers of silhouettes in the room, making his vision more blue than black.

"Rin?" Yukio questioned as he watched Rin look around the room.

"It's nothing Yukio." Rin replied quickly coming up with a lie. "It's just really loud in here." It wasn't that much of a lie. With his sudden enhanced hearing from both his loss of sight and his demon genetics made things so much louder.

"Alright." Yukio replied. Unknowingly to Rin, Yukio was thinking along the same lines as he was.

It wasn't long before everyone settled into their own seats and a teacher went up to make a speech. Really, Rin just tuned out everything, not wanting to listen as teachers droned on and on about the school and classes and etcetera. It wasn't until he heard Yukio's name be called that he returned his attention to the people around him.

"Yukio?" He questioned as he turned to his brother who was standing up to head down to the stage.

"Its fine Rin, I'll be back." Rin watched as his brother's outline moved down and through the sea of blue before it settled far away, a mere speck compared to the other figures. He listened to Yukio's speech and was surprised to hear Yukio was the freshman representative. He always knew Yukio was smart but here Yukio was being the representative for an entire grade out of thousands of other people. Rin could only stare at the speck of light that was his brother and his voice unable to pass his lips.

By the time the speech was done and Yukio returned to Rin, Rin was frowning at his brother as he helped him leave.

"What?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were class representative?" Rin huffed.

"Well, originally it didn't matter since you weren't coming to school with me. Currently, it was never something to bring up." Yukio replied. Rin didn't reply, only crossing his arms and mumbling.

They walked around the campus for a bit once more before Yukio began leading Rin over to a fountain that had little to no people around it. He guided Rin to the brick ledge and told him to sit down.

"What are we doing here Yukio?" Rin asked as he moved his hand around, trying to get a sense of what was around him.

"I have to go do something for a bit so I want you to wait here for Sir. Pheles so he can help you back to our dorm. I'd do it myself but I have to get going." Yukio turned to walk away before he stopped and said. "Please don't wonder off Rin. It would be bad if you already cause something on your first day here." And with that he was gone.

Rin grumbled and crossed his arms as he was left there. He watched with little interest the people who passed by. He could honestly say he did not like the babying treatment he was receiving from his brother. He understood why Yukio was acting this way but he didn't want to be constantly treated like he would break at any moment! He still didn't know how he was going to escape his brother's watchful gaze to go and become an exorcist, however that was done.

"And what has you all frustrated?" Rin jumped at Mephisto's voice from next to him. He turned to glare at the other.

"Nothing." Rin growled.

"No need to get hostile." Mephisto replied with a grin.

"Whatever. Where are we going?" Rin asked. He could feel his tail in his shirt just wanting to be set free and wave around in irritation.

"I figured now would be a good time to show you to the cram school where you'll learn how to be an exorcist. Here." Rin felt Mephisto grab his hand with his own gloved on and slip something in the palm of his hand. Rin closed his hand around the object and felt the texture and the form of it.

"A key?" Rin questioned, his eyes furrowing in confusion.

"That's right! A key." Mephisto answered. "This is the key you'll use to get to the cram school. It can be used in any door that has a lock." Suddenly Rin was being pulled onto his feet and across the campus. "Come, we should get you to your classroom before class starts."

"What the-hey!" Rin exclaimed as Mephisto pulled him through the multitude of silhouettes until they came to a place where there was no one around and stopped. Rin reached out and felt a large door in front on him. He glanced over at Mephisto's figure before moving his hand around to feel for a lock. When he found it, he brought his other hand up to insert the key and, with a deep breath, turned the key. He pulled the door open and, when he found it did open, walked through with Mephisto right behind him.

From what Rin could tell, he and Mephisto were the only ones inside the hallway currently. He was pretty sure that if he shouted, his voice would echo through wherever they were.

"Now we just have to get to your classroom." Mephisto spoke up.

"And you couldn't just set the key to be right next to my classroom?" Rin asked.

"The keys don't work that way my dear boy." Mephisto said shaking a finger at him. "Of course, the principle shouldn't be wandering around the school. Eins, zwei, drei!" Rin was about to ask what was going on when there was a poof in front of him and the form of Mephisto vanished.

"What the hell!?" Rin exclaimed as he looked around the darkness for any sign of Mephisto. He heard a cough from below and looked down to see the outline of a small animal, a dog if he had to guess.

"Now, if you don't mind Mr. Okumura but if you lean down you'll find a small dog at your feet. That would be me and I'll be guiding you to your class." Mephisto's voice came from the area he said the dog was.

"Y-You can turn into a dog?!" Rin asked in shock as he stared down at him.

"I can do many things, my dear boy." Mephisto replied cryptically and said no more. He began to lead the way, voicing the directions to Rin until they finally reached the door to Rin's classroom.

"Here we are!" Mephisto exclaimed happily.

"So, I just walk in here?" Rin asked.

"Yes, but you may want to open the door first. That is unless you

"I know that!" Rin growled, reaching forward to open the door. Once it was opened, Rin walked into the room with Mephisto trailing behind him. Rin took a glance around the room and realized that there were already seven people in the room: three sitting together near the back, two sitting off toward the center near the door, and the final two far from the door and in the way back. From what he could tell they were all in a way watching him as he came in and her could hear the group of three whispering about him. Rin decided to ignore them and began to slowly walk forward. He felt Mephisto nudge his foot and he figured that was Mephisto's way of directing him to his seat. He turned in that direction before he reached his arm out to feel a desk and swiftly slid into the seat.

Rin could feel the eyes on him, no doubt questioning his movements right there. He suddenly felt Mephisto jump up next to him and he decided to ask. "Who are all of these people?"

"These people are also exorcists in training." Mephisto replied. "Here to learn the ropes just like you. Some haven't received their temptaints yet while some have already been inflicted."

"What's a temptaint?" Rin asked.

"A temptaint is a wound inflicted by a demon." Mephisto explained. "After received, the one given the temptaint is able to see demons. It's almost like a rite of passage for all exorcists. Only, you don't necessarily need to receive a temptaint, seeing as you're a demon yourself."

Rin scowled in response. Suddenly footsteps came in the room and Mephisto spoke up once more.

"Ah, here's your instructor now." Rin watched as a silhouette walked in before him, the figure moving to stand before him with most likely a desk or something in front of him because the bottom half of the silhouette wasn't there. Honestly, he expected this teacher to be like any other but then he spoke and Rin's mind was blown.

"Hello class. My name is Yukio Okumura and I will be your instructor for the anti-demon pharmaceutics class." Rin couldn't believe it. There was his brother's voice coming from the front of the class. But how?

"Yukio?!" Rin exclaimed in shock. He could hear the other students greet him, his mind taking note that there were two girls and three boys who called out, but he was staring at Yukio's form for the moment. "What the hell Yukio!?"

"I'm sorry is there a problem?" Yukio asked as he looked at his brother. He knew that Rin would most likely had problems with it but he could only hope that he could wait for him to explain.

"Is there a problem? Like hell there is!" Rin growled.

Yukio gave a small smile to his class. "Although I'm the same age as most of you, I'd like you all to call me teacher while were in class. I've been studying exorcism since I was seven and I finished my last courses about two years ago."

"Since seven?" Rin whispered in shock. His brother had known about all of this since he was seven? Why? And how? Why was he kept in the dark about everything?!

Yukio's voice brought him from his confused thoughts. "Alright, is there anyone who hasn't received a temptaint yet?" There was a pause and Rin figure there were people raising their hands. "Three, alright. Let's start with the temptaint ritual."

"Temptaint ritual?"

"A demon will be summoned to give a temptaint to the classmates who haven't received one." Mephisto explained.

Rin just stared in shock at the form of his brother. He didn't listen as Yukio explained about the room they were in or about goblins, he could only focus on the fact that his brother had hidden so much from him and he didn't know why. This means Yukio knew all about this. About dad, about demons, about exorcists, most likely even about him! Rin couldn't just sit here!

"Yukio!"

"I'm sorry but class is in session." Yukio frowned. Why can't his brother just _wait_?

"Damn it Yukio!" Rin shouted as he stood up. He traced his way from out behind the desk and marched forward to the form of Yukio and gripped his arm. Yukio didn't even have the chance to stop his brother or question how he figured out exactly where he stood before Rin was shouting, "We need to talk about this _now_!"

"Fine, what is it you want to talk about?"

"Damn it you know what we need to talk about!"

Yukio's frown grew deeper before he addressed his class. "I'm sorry, but we need to take a short break. Please wait outside while I talk with Mr. Okumura."

There were grumbles from the others, but Rin ignored them for favor in glaring at his brother. Yukio stared down at his brother looking into those clouded glowing eyes that seemed to look right at his face.

"Well? What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Stop playing around! Explain what the hell is going on!"

Yukio sighed and Mephisto spoke up. "You heard him."

"It's just as I said earlier." Yukio finally answered. "I became an exorcist two years ago and I started training since I was seven. I received my temptaint when I was born," Yukio looked directly at Rin. "You were the demon who gave it to me."

Rin couldn't believe what he was hearing. This whole time, Yukio knew. "So you mean, you knew about dad and what I am?"

"You were the only one who didn't know." Yukio replied.

"But why?! Why didn't you ever say anything!?" Rin asked as he gripped his brother's shirt, or jacket now that he felt it.

"Rin-"

"Talk to me!" Rin demanded as he pushed Yukio back. The taller twin moved back and his hand hit the vile of animal blood he was planning to use to call in the goblins. The vile moved and shifted until it fell and shattered on the floor.

Rin was about to ask what that was when a rancid smell filled the air making him gag and cover his nose. "W-What is that!?"

"The animal blood I was going to use to summon the goblins." Yukio replied. Rin was about to ask something else when a sound came from behind him. Turning around, Rin found three oddly shaped forms flying at him before they suddenly disappeared as three gun shots rang in the air.

"Yukio-"

"That was three hobgoblins and because of how riled up they'll be, there will be more where that comes from. I recommend you go into the hallway while I deal with this." He watched as Yukio turned toward four more forms and shoot at them.

"Wait! I'm not done talking to you yet!" Rin exclaimed over the gun shots. Yukio grit his teeth, unable to hold back his emotions anymore at Rin's next words. "All this time, what did you think of me if you knew what I was!?"

"What did I think of you? Isn't it obvious?" Yukio replied and shot over his shoulder. Rin felt the bullets zip past his face to his demons behind him. "You're a demon. At the time I thought you were a danger, you still are even with your injury." He shot down more demons, his rage continuing to build. "I don't even know why you want to become an exorcist! Some way of getting revenge or what? Do you feel guilt over your own and especially father's condition? If those are the reasons…" He took the moment to take out some of the bigger hobgoblins. "You should give yourself up!" He really didn't mean it, honestly. But Yukio's emotions were getting the better of him at the moment and he couldn't control himself.

Yukio also knew what he was about to say next would hurt his brother deeper than the wound to his eyes, if what he's said already hasn't. He really didn't want to hurt his brother anymore then he was but he had so much anger built up in him and Rin wanted answers. So he spoke his next words. "Or better yet, you should just die." And now that Yukio thought about it, he didn't know which one would be worse if Rin did either.

Rin stared in shock at his brother, unable to voice a reply for a while. When he found his voice, he choked out a reply. "So that's what you think, that this is all my fault?"

 _'No'_ "He was trying to protect you, yet that turned into his greatest weakness." Yukio replied coldly, his emotions cooling down after he go all of his pent up worry and sorrow out. He turned to see Rin standing their emotionlessly.

Rin finally opened his mouth. "You know what? I don't care if you think that about me!" His voice was slowly growing. "I'm still your brother! If you really don't like me, if you truly think I'm a demon-"

He reached behind him and gripped his sword and taking it out of the cloth. He gripped the hilt and narrowed his eyes at the form of his brother as well as the demon appearing behind him. "Then shoot me!" He pulled the sword from its sheath.

Rin's vision was assaulted with blue. All around him, shapes became visible and everything appeared as different shades and forms of blue flame and black. He narrowed his eyes at Yukio, taking in the form of the demon behind his brother. He gritted his teeth as he dashed forward, watching as Yukio's face took on one of shock and horror as he ran right toward him. "Shoot me!"

Yukio raised his gun in shock and watched as his brother opened the sword and his eyes get brighter and clearer. He watched as Rin's demon characteristics showed themselves. And then, he was running at him with his flaming sword pointed outward. Yukio fully expected to be hit by Rin's sword, even his flames to hit him.

But no such thing happened.

There was a demon screech of pain behind him and he turned to see Rin finish slicing through a large hobgoblin, his flames burning it instantly. Once it was gone, Rin turned toward his brother with a smile. His smile faltered as he was forced to give up his vision once more as he sheathed his sword.

Yukio watched as Rin seemed to reluctantly sheath his sword before speaking. "Feel better now?" Rin asked with a soft chuckle. When his brother didn't reply his smile softened. "Don't insult me Yukio, I'm not going to fight my brother."

Rin moved to walk toward his brother only for his foot to catch on a piece of debris from the battle and began to fall forward only to feel his brother's hands catch him and help him regain his balance. Rin blushed in embarrassment and pulled away, claiming he didn't need help.

Meanwhile, Yukio just shook his head. He opened his mouth when a thought came to him.

"Hey Rin?" Rin stopped his ranting to listen. "What was dad like before Satan got him."

Rin gave a toothy smile. "He kicked ass." He replied before continuing. "Do you want to know why I want to be an exorcist? It's not for anything like revenge. It's because…I-I want to become stronger so no one else dies for me!"

Yukio stared in shock at the sudden confession, giving a soft response to the answer.

"You're just like me." Yukio said as he looked at his brother, whose blind eyes turned to look at him. "You're reasons for being an exorcists, it's like mine." Then he turned serious. "But know this, those words I said will hunt you for the rest of your life. Exorcists are meant to hunt demons and being the Son of Satan only makes it worse. Please don't ever forget this…big brother."

Rin smiled as he looked at the silhouette of his brother. "You got it…teacher sir." He listened as Yukio called the others back in and could only guess from their gasps that the room was not in a presentable state, but he couldn't care much for that right now.

* * *

"And here we are." Yukio said as they entered a dorm room of an abandon dorm building. Yukio thought that would be safer then risking Rin's flames in a building full of many other students and Mephisto agreed. After they had finished up with cram school, Yukio had lead Rin to the dorm room they would be sleeping in.

"Wait, so we're sharing a room?" Rin groaned. "What is this prison?"

"Of course." Yukio replied. "Think of me almost like your warden." Yukio laughed at Rin's groan. Everything seemed to turn out alright between the two of them.


	4. Chapter 4

For the next few days after they got settled in to their dorm, the Okumura brothers began to get use to school. Rin was still reluctant to use the cane so Yukio would have to help him to his class in the morning before classes but the two were otherwise fine. For cram school, Yukio was a strict teacher and Rin had, somehow, already created an enemy in his class. To his relief though, none of them had come to the conclusion of his ailment, or they have and they just haven't mentioned it. He was happy Yukio hadn't said anything or done anything as of yet that would tell them he was blind.

On off times when Yukio wasn't doing his own homework he was helping a reluctant Rin with his or helping him start to understand braille. Rin didn't like to admit he needed the help but he did so anyway. When it came to cram school things, Yukio would help him if it was something very difficult but other than that he left it to Rin to figure it out by tracing over the braille written facts of the books to help him learn two things at once. Rin didn't like it, but Yukio just continued to do so as his way of helping his brother become more independent.

As for Rin, he was thankful his brother was helping him as much as he was, even if he found it embarrassing. He, of course, still hasn't told his brother about his ability to see the silhouettes, he hasn't seen the reason to.

When the weekend came along, Rin had been sleeping when his sharp hearing cause him to wake up. He groaned as he opened his eyes to see Yukio's silhouette shifting around and his ears caught the sound of clothing being put on, a coat if he had to guess.

"Yukio?" He called out. "What are you doing this early in the morning?"

He could see the silhouette turn to look at him. "Nothing that concerns you Rin, just go back to sleep. If you wake up and I'm still gone then I think you should continue to work on your studies."

Those sentences woke him up. Rin sat up and blinked. "Wait, are you going on a mission? Like an exorcist one?" His tail started to flick in excitement.

"It's just a call Rin, nothing that exciting." Yukio said as he began to button up his exorcist coat.

Rin ignored this though. "Can I come?!"

"Rin-"

"Oh come on, you know I'm more of a hands on learner!"

"I'd feel better if you were here and out of danger. Rin with your current condition-" He was cut off again.

"It won't matter! You just said that it won't be that exciting!" Rin protested.

"Yes but that doesn't mean that something couldn't happen!"

"Then we'll know if I can handle something like this! I've already been field tested!" Rin shot back. "Oh come on! Let me go with you Yukio! I might learn something and you can at least keep an eye on me."

Yukio stared at his now standing brother, whose tail was swishing back and forth in agitation and anger on his face. His brother could be so stubborn sometimes! Yukio sighed as he thought of a way to keep his brother from coming and smirked when he thought of something.

"Alright you can come," Rin perked up and opened his mouth but this time Yukio kept him from talking. "But, you have to use your cane."

"What?!"

"It's the condition you have to agree to Rin if you want to come on the mission." Yukio smirked _'There, he won't agree to this. He's too stubborn to do so.'_

Rin growled as he contemplated what to do here. His brother had obviously said this to make sure he didn't come, well think again!

"Fine!" Rin snapped as he carefully moved over to a side table he knew Yukio left the cane on. Yukio watched his brother grab the folded up cane and then struggle to figure out how to open it up. It took a few moments, but once it was unfolded and useable, Rin gave a cry of success before going to grab his uniform. Once he was done changing and hiding his tail beneath his clothing, Rin turned to his brother with a huff.

"There! Now we can go!" Rin exclaimed as he grabbed the cane as well as threw the Koma Sword over his shoulder.

Honestly, Yukio was surprised his brother agreed to his conditions since he had never shown any sign of wanting to use the cane in the past, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't proud he got his brother to grab the thing.

Yukio took out his key chain and sorted through the multitude of keys before he came to the right one. When he looked up, he saw his brother prepared to leave the room and Yukio put an arm on his to stop him.

"Wait, Rin, you need to let me open the door." He said, moving his brother behind him as he closed the door to their room, which Rin had opened, and put the key in the key hole. Behind him, Rin just raised an eyebrow as he listened to his brother unlock the door and open it.

When it opened, he gave a confused glance in Yukio's direction. He moved forward and walked through the door, and the next thing he knew was that he felt wind blowing across his face.

"What the hell!?" He exclaimed turning back to the door as Yukio walked through. "What the fuck did you do?!"

"I used a key to get us here." Rin blinked.

"Key?"

"Yes." Yukio answered. "Since we need to keep things secret as well as defend against demons, Sr. Pheles came up with the idea to use keys to get around. The higher you are in rank, the more keys you have which means you have more access to places. Keys are very important. If you have one, you can't lose it."

Rin's hand went to the chain he had on his uniform pants, fingering the key he had been given. He had heard the jingling when Yukio was grabbing the key needed to open the door to here and he wondered how many he had.

"Rin!" said half demon jumped at his brother's sudden shout.

"What the hell Yukio!?" Rin growled as he turned to glare at his brother. He watched his brother's silhouette shake his head and move closer to him.

"The conditions of letting you come meant you had to use your cane." Yukio pointed out to his brother. He had taken notice that when they began walking toward their destination, Rin was simply holding his cane in his hand, not using it to guide him. "This means you have to use it if you want to continue to come with me. I can easily send you back to the dorm."

Rin grumbled back a reply but shifted the cane so he was holding it on the grip part and letting the tip touch the ground. He knew what to do as it had been explained to his at the hospital. He began gliding it back and forth once they started walking again.

"There, happy?" He snapped in agitation as he glared at his brother. He caught the silhouette nod before Yukio replied with a "yes."

They came to a set of stairs that Rin used his cane to navigate up, all while feeling Yukio watching him like a hawk. Honestly, the thing that irritated Rin the most was with how many stairs there were. When they started up the second half, he asked.

"Where the hell are we going anyway?" He wanted to know what was so special it was worth going up so many stairs.

"To the exorcist supply shop." Yukio answered. "I need to pick up a few things." Rin gave a nod as a response.

When they finally made it up the set of stairs, Yukio continued to lead him and when his cane knocked into another set of stairs he groaned but was cut off by Yukio.

"You can't come any further Rin, since only authorized exorcists can enter the shop." Rin couldn't say he was that upset. "Just stay here."

Yukio began going up the stairs and stopped to turn back to Rin. "Don't do anything or go anywhere!" With that he began his walk to the ship at the top of the stairs.

Rin rolled his eyes and began to mock his brother. "Don't go anywhere. Don't do anything. Yeah, yeah…whatever." He sighed and scuffed his foot on the ground, bored out of his mind. By now, he didn't think he'd die if he had stayed at the dorm.

His ear twitched as his enhanced hearing caught the sound of soft humming. He gripped his cane and began to find his way toward the sound, giving another groan as he found more stairs lead toward it. His curiosity was too strong though and he began to work his way up the stairs, the soft humming growing. Once he was in distance, he could catch a soft blue glow slowly form in his dark vision, growing and forming until it took the form of what seemed to be a girl, kneeling on the ground working in what he would guess would be a garden from the smells he could pick up. He continued forward until his cane knocked into what seemed to be a gate.

He lifted his other hand to knock on the gate but jump back as a shock came from the fence and sent a jolt through his hand, causing him to cry out in pain. However, over that he heard something crash to the ground and the girl's head jerk up to look in his direction.

"Look, the gate totally broke on its own! I-" He cut off when he heard her soft voice speak.

"D-Demon..." she gasped out, her finger raising to point at him At first Rin thought there was one behind him but then she continued. "The…the demon-warding gate…"

_'Crap! The gate must have reacted to me!'_ He thought as sweat dripped down his neck.

"St-tay out demon!" She cried to him in terror, backing away slightly.

Rin gritted his teeth. "Oi! I'm no demon!" He began moving forward, in his anger completely forgetting to look out for things in his path. He heard her cry once again and he was about to respond in anger only for his foot to catch on the broken gate and fall on the ground.

The girl watched him fall and stopped her screaming as she watched him push himself up with a groan. She watched as he opened his eyes and began feeling around the ground, obviously looking for the cane he had. She gasped in realization and crawled over, while slowly, until she reached the white cane that had been flung a few inches from the boy.

Rin patted the ground as he looked for the cane. He'd leave it if he could, but Yukio would yell at him if he did that. He heard shuffling from the now silent girl but for the moment he ignored it in favor of finding his walking aid.

"Here." He blinked and looked up to see the girl in front of him now, the form of her more defined now that she was closer. He couldn't help but notice how calm the flames seemed to be that made up her form. He blinked and directed his attention to her arms, which were held out to him. Apparently, his silence was too long and she responded.

"Oh! Sorry, I just mean here's your…um…cane. I'm holding it out to you in front of you and I didn't realize you can't see, well I did but I forgot at that moment so-"

"Thanks." Rin said grabbing the cane and cutting her off.

"I'm…I'm sorry about calling you a demon. I-Its just…the gate is supposed to keep demons out and when it reacted to you…I'm sorry."

"Hey, its fine…huh?" He felt her grab his hand in a way like she was giving him a hand shake.

"Um…my name's Shiemi Moriyama. What's yours?" Shiemi introduced herself and Rin now understood why she grabbed his hand.

"Oh…uh…I'm Rin Okumura. Sorry about your gate." He replied getting a soft laugh from her.

"It's alright." Shiemi replied. "It's just…I don't want anything hurting my grandmother's garden. She taught me so many things here. I love her garden just like I loved her."

"Loved? Do you mean-"

"She…she died last winter." Shiemi admitted. "I bet she went to the Garden of Amhara before me. At least, I hope she did."

"Garden of Amhara?" Rin questioned tilting his head at her.

Shiemi nodded. "Yeah. She said it was the place God gathered all the plants of the world. I bet it's beautiful there. I know it's a fairy tale but…if it really exists then I really want to go there." Rin smiled at this.

"Rin?" Rin jumped at the sound of his brother's voice and turned to see him standing there with another person, a large older woman if he had to guess. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"Oh, hello Yuki!" Shiemi called to Rin's brother before he could reply. This made Rin confused.

"Yuki?! Do you know each other?!" Rin asked pointing between the two as he came closer to the two on the ground still.

"Of course. Shiemi's mother owns the supply shop. Hello Shiemi." He said finally addressing her. He pointed to his brother. "This in Rin, my older twin brother."

Shiemi gasped at this. "Older?!" From looking at the two, she would have guessed Rin was the younger.

"I know, it's surprising but I assure you he is the older twin. Of course, that's in name only." Yukio smirked as Rin began to sputter indignantly.

"In name only?! My ass!" Yukio just smiled at his brother.

"Shiemi," Her mother spoke up causing Rin to focus on her. "Let Yukio look at your legs."

"Mom, I haven't been infected by a demon!" Shiemi protested.

"It's just a precaution." Yukio spoke, trying to calm the girl down. "If I don't find anything then we have nothing to worry about. So? Will you let me have a look?"

There was silence, and Rin just watched their forms until Shiemi finally nodded. He watched as Yukio moved forward and grabbed the hem of what would be her skirt or dress and pushed it up to reveal her leg. Honestly, Rin didn't see anything but he also didn't expect to since he couldn't see details like that. However, he noticed there was an odd bump here or their coming from her leg as she rotated it.

"What-"

"It's a root." Yukio spoke up, making everyone look at him. "Caused by the demon."

"Do you mean Shiemi's-"

"No," Yukio cut Miss Moriyama off. "She isn't possessed. The demon wasn't strong enough to possess a human meaning it's either a Dokkalfr, a Greenman, or an Ent. A type of low level demon that normally possess grass and tress has reached from the ground and through Shiemi's leg to reach her soul. The demon is in this garden."

Rin could hear Shiemi's mother's breath hitch and he was quick to look around, trying to find any sign of the demon. He couldn't see anything but darkness though and the three silhouettes of the other three people there.

"Shiemi," Yukio's voice brought them back to him. "A demon normally finds its way into people's souls through conversation, so you must have spoken to one. Do you recall ever doing this?"

Shiemi bit her lip and looked down at the ground as she tried to avoid looking at any of them. "I-I never spoke to any demon…I-"

"Shiemi!" Shiemi jumped and looked up at her mother's yell. Her mother began to move toward her. "You must leave this…this cursed garden at once! I know your grandmother cherished it, but its not worth sacrificing your health over!"

Shiemi held back tears in her eyes at her mother's words. "D-Don't…Don't call this garden cursed!" She yelled in anger and her mother gasped at the shout before glaring right back. "It was grandma's greatest treasure! I…I hate you!"

Just as she shouted that last part, Rin watched the flames around her dim to an extreme point and a vein like pattern glow on her legs for a second before it was done. As this happened, Shiemi's eyes dimmed and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Shiemi!" her mother cried as she and Yukio rushed forward. Rin watched as they tried to get her to wake and he stood up, once again searching the garden for the glow of the demon, but he was once again met with nothing.

"We should get her inside." Yukio spoke up, picking the girl up. He and her mother began to head towards the house and he stopped to look back at Rin, who was still staring around the garden.

"Rin-"

"Get her inside." The half demon replied, not turning to look and see what Yukio's reaction was. "I can get there myself."

Yukio bit his lip as he watched his brother look around blindly at the beautiful garden. He didn't know what his brother was doing and wanted him to follow so he didn't have to worry about Rin getting lost. But, he needed to take care of Shiemi.

Yukio sighed. "Alright, to get to the storehouse you'll have to turn around and go forward. Use your cane, ok?"

"Got it." Rin replied. As his response he heard Yukio and Mrs. Moriyama's feet begin to move again. He tried to use all of his senses to find the demon and he was tempted to even take his sword out of its sheath just to have a greater sense of sight but he refrained from doing so. For all Yukio has done for him he can at least not cause him any trouble on this mission by drawing his sword.

With a huff, he knelt to the ground and picked up his cane, which he had left on the floor when he had shot up to try and find the demon, and turned around. He moved his cane back and forth, a bit more gently then usual as he knew there were plants and other flowers around. Eventually, he made it the door of the house. Reaching forward, he gripped the door handle and pushed the door in.

"Yukio?" He called, listening for the sound of any of them.

"Right here Rin." He turned towards his brother's voice and found him coming closer with Mrs. Moriyama beside him.

"Is Shiemi ok?" He asked.

"She's alright, resting now." Yukio answered, pushing his glasses up his nose. "The demon has been draining a lot of energy through her legs though. If she isn't exorcised soon, she may lose her life."

"Oh." Was all Rin could give as a response. He felt his brother grab his arm, and begin to pull him out of the house. "Hey, why does she sleep in…what did you say, Yukio…the storehouse?"

"This was where her grandmother lived and since her death, Shiemi has shut herself in here. She refuses to leave the garden." Mrs. Moriyama answered and sighed as she continued her story after closing the door. "It was around this time she started having problems with her legs just like her grandmother."

"Is that what caused the conflict between the two of you?" Yukio asked. "That even now, she has only her grandmother on her mind."

Mrs. Moriyama glanced back to Yukio before stopping and staring at the ground. "I suppose." They began moving inside and once they were there, Yukio had Rin sit down in a chair he had asked to barrow and Mrs. Moriyama gave them both tea to drink before continuing her story.

"I'm…a horrible mother you see. And I was a failure as a daughter as well." She took a smoke from her pipe she had lit while Rin and Yukio took a sip of their tea. "Shiemi was always so frail that…sending her to school could easily make her ill. So, since I was busy with the shop, it was her grandmother that took my place of looking after her. I can't deny that I was jealous with how close the two were, but I suppose it's my own fault that she turned away from me. Acting so mother now…she must think…" She trailed off with a sad sigh and took another smoke.

Yukio watched as the mother beat herself up and spoke up. "Thinking like that…you're playing right into the demon's hands. They exploit the vulnerabilities in people's souls."

Rin looked down at this. His mind thought back to the moment all this had been started. Is that how Shiro and Shiratori were able to be possessed? If so, he didn't want such things to happen to Shiemi or her mother.

He could hear the two still talking and sighed. Rin placed his tea down and stood up, reaching next to the chair where he had left the cane leaning up against it. Then he grabbed the Koma Sword and swung it onto his shoulder.

"Rin? What are you doing?" Yukio asked as he watched his brother stand up and grab his things.

"I'm going to go outside for a bit, ok? Don't worry so much Yukio." Rin then began to walk in the direction of the door. Once he found the one they had entered the house from, he opened the door just in time to hear a whispered, "I have to protect it."

He blinked as he took in the sound of someone being outside, and if he was to guess he'd say it was Shiemi. He looked around, trying to find where she was and finally caught sight of her form over in the garden.

He walked over to her and he was surprised she didn't even look up at his approach.

"You're…tending the garden at this hour?" Rin asked and he watched her freeze for a moment before looking at him. "Listen, your mom's really worried about you."

"I don't care, she's the one being awful." Rin was shocked by these words from such a kind sounding girl. "I want to protect the garden and I've decided I will, and that's it!"

Now this…this just wasn't right. Her words caused Rin to grind his teeth and clench his hands together. This girl needed to see reason! He was about to yell at her, shout at her for her silly and messed up reasoning when his cane suddenly hit something. A pot. Rin knelt down and ignored her questioning sound as he picked up the pot which his sharp sense of smell could tell there was a plant in it. He brought it above his head, and threw it down. He listened to the smashing of the clay pot as it hit the ground hard.

"What are you doing?! Stop!" Shiemi cried, crawling forward to stop Rin from continuing to destroy her plants. When she finally reaches Rin, one of his hands and been searching for another pot before she snatched it into her hand while her other one gripped his shirt.

Rin turned to her, taking in her shaking form. He lifted his hands to grip her shoulders. "Just snap out of it! What has gotten a hold of you?!"

Shiemi stared, shocked into his blue eyes before lowering hers to the ground. She tried to hold back her tears as she spoke, "If I…if I only came home earlier that day…" She trailed off, mind slipping into the past, and her hands fell into her lap. "If I hadn't left the garden…or helped her…with the arbor," Tears threatened to spill as she choked on her words. "T-Then grandmother wouldn't…wouldn't have died. She died because of me. That's-That's why…I…have to protect her garden!" Tears spilled from her eyes as she was no longer able to hold them back.

As for Rin, he stared at her in shock. _'She's…like me.'_ He realized with a start. _'She's stuck in the past, just like me.'_ His mind drifted to the memories of that night when Satan had come for him. The sounds of pain and anguish that came from the men of the monastery and the blood upon his father's chest. How he now laid on a hospital bed all because of what he had done.

He gritted his teeth again and tightened his grip on her shoulders to get her attention as he jerked her to make her look at him. "Well, you shouldn't make your mom worry! And if you can't do that than just give this up!" He loosened his grip a bit. "Besides, you really want to look for the Garden of Amahara, right? Or do you think your grandmother wouldn't want you to go?"

Shiemi's eyes widened as she stared at the teen that held her. "Oh, no. No that's not what she'd want! That's not at all what she'd want me to do!" She cried even harder and fell into Rin's chest crying. "I'm such an idiot! A-And now…I can't even move my legs!"

"You leave that to me! I chop that damn root in two!" Rin growled and he glared at her legs, knowing that was where the root was shown, even if at the moment he could see it.

Someone clearing their throat made them look up as their footsteps drew near.

"Sorry to interrupt when you were getting to such a good part." Yukio's voice came from beside the two and Rin jump in response.

"When the hell did you get here!?" He exclaimed, pointing his cane at the other when he felt it in his hand.

Yukio sighed and rolled his eyes at his brother before turning to Shiemi. "What we're dealing with is lightweight. I can exorcise it in no time and you'll be able to move your legs." He gave a soft smile. "After all, it's up to your strength of will."

Shiemi opened her mouth to respond but was stopped when a voice rang out. _"I won't allow this."_

Rin jerked and tried to find any sign of the voice that rang in his ears, but none of his senses could find a direct area for it.

_"Do you mean to break your promise?"_ The unembodied voice spoke. _"I won't allow this!"_ Rin jerked away as the sound of the ground breaking sounded in front of him. He went to grab Shiemi but another glow of a silhouette appeared from beneath her. Roots grew from her legs and soon Rin was thrown back by the force as the demon took over Shiemi's body.

"You're going to live in this garden until you die!" The demon cried out, still seemingly talking to Shiemi, who was now held in the center of the large flower demon.

"She's holding Shiemi like a shield." Yukio spoke up and glanced at his brother who had just stood up. "Rin," He had his brother's attention. "I need your help with this. Do you think you can attempt to distract the demon or something to help out?"

Rin smirked and reached behind him to grab his sword and take it out of the red bag. "Well, since you asked." He gripped the sword in both hands. "And don't worry Yukio, I can tell where it is." With that he unsheathed his sword and both he and his world exploded into blue.

Rin had almost forgotten the awe he felt when he could see the world after drawing his sword. Now he could see what Yukio meant and he could also see what little of the beautiful garden there was. He wanted to sit there and admire it for as long as he could, but they needed to help Shiemi.

Yukio watched his brother change as he unsheathed his sword and for a moment, he was drawn to his brother's eyes. There seemed to be focus in them, but he couldn't watch it for long as the demon spoke.

"You're a demon too!" The demon spoke to Rin.

"Oi! Don't go lumping me with you, bastard!" Rin growled back angrily. With that he rushed forward to attack the demon but no matter where he stood, he couldn't get a good opening. The demon was continually using Shiemi as a shield!

"What's the matter?" The demon taunted at Rin.

"No fair! You're playing dirty!" Rin growled at the demon.

The demon laughed. "Ha! There's no question of fair or dirty to demons!" It cackled again. "I dare you! Strike me where you want! That is, if you can live with all the red gashes you leave on her pretty little body!"

There was a cock of a gun as Yukio shouted. "Stand back Rin! At this point I'll have to shoot them both."

"Wait Yukio!"

"You're bluffing!" The demon cried. "You won't shoot the girl!"

"You could be right, or," Yukio took off the safety. "You could be dead wrong."

"Yukio!?"

He ignored his brother's shout as he continued to stare down the demon. "Now, which will it be?"

"Damn you! There's no way you'll shoot!"

BANG!

Rin watched as the bullet went through Shiemi's side and the demon. Instantly, the demon rejected Shiemi as a shield. As soon as this happened, Yukio shouted. "Now Rin!"

With a snarl, Rin sliced through the demon, listening to it scream before his flames consumed it. He then quickly turned back to Yukio and ran toward him before sheathing the sword.

"Yukio! You son of a-" He was cut off by Shiemi, who's silhouette was now glowing brightly, waking up.

"Yuki?" She asked looking at the teen who held her.

"Huh!?" Rin cried in confusion.

"The root in your legs are gone now." Yukio told her as he let her stand up. "Try standing."

At being able to stand, Shiemi let out a cry of joy. However, Rin heard footsteps approaching just as a familiar voice called out.

"Shiemi…" Shiemi looked up to see her mother standing there. She swallowed and looked down uncertainly.

"Um…ah!" She cried out as she was suddenly smacked by Rin. Yukio cried out in reply and Shiemi turned to him with a hurt look but stopped at the small smile that was directed to her.

"Just go tell her you're sorry." He said. "If you don't, you'll regret it."

Shiemi stared at him before looking back at her mother and walking toward her. She stood quietly in front of her when her mother spoke.

"There was a time even I tried to find the Garden of Amahara." Shiemi looked up in surprise only to gasp when her mother took her into her arms with a cry of, "Oh, you silly girl! I was so worried!"

Tears well once again in Shiemi's eyes and she clutched her mother close. "Oh mom! I'm so sorry!"

The Okumura brother's smiled at the reunion.

"Hey," Rin spoke up. "I could get use to this. But, what did you shoot them with?"

Yukio smiled. "Vitamin capsules. Sure, getting hit with one hurts but otherwise-"

"So that's your big play off huh?" Rin scoffed before turning back to Shiemi and her mother.

Meanwhile, Yukio continued to watch his brother. He had seen how his brother could tell where the demon was. He could have bought it as his demon senses but with all the noise, he shouldn't have known where Shiemi was to not strike at. So, how did his brother know?

"Hey, Rin?"

"Hum?"

"How did you know not to strike with your sword?" Yukio asked, watching his brother shift awkwardly.

"Oh, you know, I could hear it and stuff." He answered oddly. "Why?"

"Nothing, you just did it well."

"Oh thanks."

Yukio continued to watch his brother. _'What aren't you telling me, Rin?'_


	5. Chapter 5

Shiemi panted as she rushed through the portal to get to cram school. Once she was through and the door closed behind her, she caught he breath before continuing down the hall to her class. As she walked further down the hall, she spotted a familiar figure tracing the wall as he walked down the hall.

"Rin!" Said half-demon smiled when he heard her footsteps quicken to catch up to him. Shiemi had joined the cram school a few days prior after he and Yukio had helped exorcise the demon in her garden and since then she tended to be by Rin's side throughout cram school. Honestly, there were times he thought she and Yukio had a conspiracy to keep an eye on him with how much she would worry about him at times. Much to his joy, she hasn't mentioned his blindness to the other students either.

"Hey Shiemi." Rin greeted her once she was next to him. He stopped when he heard her panting. "You ok?"

"I'm alright, don't worry." She reassured him. Rin gave her a nod in understanding before the two continued on again. As they walked, however, Rin could feel Shiemi's worried eyes watching him as they moved down the hall. Sighing, Rin turned to face her.

"Yes?" He heard her squeak in surprise and he watched her silhouette start to twirl her thumbs and look down.

"I was just wondering…um…" She trailed off before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Why don't you have your cane? Don't you…um…need that to…to get around? Why don't you have it on you like you have your sword?"

Rin blinked, not expecting the question. He looked away and furrowed his eyebrows as he thought about it. His expression must not have been a kind one since Shiemi suddenly spoke up.

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to make you upset!" She stuttered. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to! I just-"

"No its fine." Rin cut her off with a smile. "Honestly, one reason is because I just…I really don't want the others to know about my blindness. Using the cane would let them know about it."

"Oh…well, I just think you should have it as all. It would make things easier for you."

Rin waved his hand. "Ah, I'm fine right now. Besides, it doesn't make much difference to the teachers since they already know. Don't worry, Shiemi."

"Alright." She replied. "Oh, stop, this is the classroom."

Rin nodded and followed her into the classroom and the two took their normal seats at the front of the class. As he sat down, he took out a recorder that Yukio supplied him with so that he could take notes, however keeping it out of sight of everyone save for Yukio and Shiemi. He used a recorder during class because he didn't have the skill to read his braille books yet during class, so Yukio reserved that for at their dorm. His teachers of course knew about this, and didn't question him as he pulled it out and turned it on before settling down waiting for his class to be over.

As class started, he could feel a pair of eyes boring into his back from behind, whispers reaching his sensitive ears, and Rin didn't need to turn around and have the name spoken out loud for him to know who it was. Since his first day of cram school, Ryuji Suguro had held a disdain towards his laid back attitude he had during class, the other no doubt a hard worker if this bothered him. Though, Rin supposed keeping his blindness, another reason behind the other's attitude, a secret contributed.

With a sigh, Rin just decided to ignore the stares for right now, choosing to close his mostly sightless eyes and no longer be able to see the teacher's form floating in the darkness before him. He didn't really fall asleep, but he drifted just enough to pass through the class.

Behind him, Suguro glared at the teen in the front. Ever since the first day, the other had just rubbed him the wrong way. Not only did he cause a scene the first day of class, but he also continually zoned out in class and the teachers didn't even get after him for it!

He'll admit, there was something off about him and his movements, but he couldn't piece together the facts he had observed from the other, like the careful walking and tracing the desks, and his anger towards the other's apparent laziness didn't help.

As he continued to glare at Rin's back, who remained disinterested in the other's anger and only made movement every so often to change the recording to a blank one, classes passed by until Yukio finally entered as their teacher for the period. In his hands was once again his briefcase and when he placed it down, he opened it to take out a handful of papers.

"Alright, class," He called out. Rin lifted his gaze from where he stared off into darkness to focus on the flickering figure that was his brother. "I'll be giving your quizzes back. I would recommend looking over your answers so that anything wrong can be fixed later on. Shima,"

Rin heard Shiemi perk up beside him and turned to look at her soft flamed figure. "What is it?"

"It's just that, I know I did well on this quiz!" She exclaimed happily.

Rin sat there confused for a few seconds before he remembered where she came from. "Oh yeah, your family's all pharmacists."

Shiemi hummed in agreement. "Yeah, we specialize in this kind of stuff! That's why I know I did well!"

"Shiemi."

"Yes!" Shiemi shot up at the call of her name and headed up to the front of the class. Rin watched her silhouette met Yukio's. He listened as his brother quizzed her on different names and hearing Shiemi reply with what they do. He felt a little bad for her as she was obviously disappointed as she was handed back her test with a few reassurances on Yukio's part.

He heard her sit down as his name was called. "Rin."

Gripping the desk, he traced his way towards around the desk and made his way to his brother. Once he stood in front of the other, he held his hand out and Yukio placed his quiz in his hand as he spoke.

"You did pretty well, though you could do a bit better on your next quiz." As he spoke, Rin traced his finger over the number that Yukio had purposely engraved in the paper by pressing the pen into it so that his brother could feel the number. 40, not bad considering his situation. It seemed all the studying with Yukio paid off, no matter how frustrating it could get.

Since he could no longer take test as the others could, Yukio set up a system for him to take the quizzes or tests. It usually happened after school at their door where Yukio would read the questions to his brother and wait for his answer. Sometimes he would give him a question written in braille but that was rare since it still took Rin a while to read the dotted lines. Any other tests for other class were given to Yukio for him to quiz his brother, the teachers trusting the young teacher. Also, since Yukio knew that Rin had struggled in school beforehand, he was then able to help word the questions in ways that he can understand without giving him the answer. With the lessons Rin was going through to adapt to his situation, Yukio would admit he was very proud of his brother for achieving this.

Of course, Rin still didn't want the other's to know about his situation, no doubt because of his pride, so Rin would either pretend to take the test or quiz in class, or he would just not go in that day, something Yukio didn't agree with so it was rarely done. As for the quiz paper he was being handed, he had asked Yukio to write his answers on the paper so it would make it look believable.

"Suguro." Yukio called just as Rin was turning back to his seat. He was so focused on tracing the number on his paper with his finger, he didn't see the glow of the other's silhouette approaching him until it was too late.

With an _oof_ noise, Rin bounced off of the other teen who glared down at the other. "Watch were you're going." Suguro growled out to the shorter male.

Rin resisted baring his fangs at the other and growling. Again, it was his fault for not telling the others of his situation but still, the only thing he can watch for are people or creatures. Holding back his anger, Rin huffed out a "Right back at ya." Before slowly moving to his desk, which wasn't that far from where he was thankfully.

Suguro watched the other male move past him and he couldn't help but notice the empty gaze in his eyes. The blue seemed to glow slightly within the glassy gaze and he couldn't help but notice that only for a second it looked like he focused on him before the gaze moved out of focus once more. He wanted to comment on it, but he was kept from doing so by Mr. Okumura calling his name once more.

He grabbed his paper, smiling proudly at the 98% that showed on the top of his paper. He let out a sound of triumph that Rin's ears caught, making him tilt his head and raise an eyebrow at the other. Suguro caught his look and spoke up.

"This is the type of grade you get if you actually pay attention in class." Suguro gloated, showing his paper to the other, not knowing that Rin wouldn't be able to see what he was showing him.

"Oi!" Rin growled, glaring at the silhouette made up of jagged yet calm flames. "I pay attention in class!" He decided not to comment on the paper because he couldn't see it.

Suguro scoffed. "Yeah right. I always see you dozing off! I don't even think you're taking being an exorcist seriously!"

"Why you-" Rin growled, jumping out of his seat, but nearly tripping over the leg of his chair. "What the hell do you know?! I'll-WAH!" He nearly fell forward when he attempted to lean on the desk but missed it and lost his balance.

"Rin!" Shiemi cried reaching out to pull him back to his seat. Rin fell backwards but kept his focus on Suguro.

"See, you can't even pay attention to what's around you!" Suguro said, however he had the feeling deep in his gut that he shouldn't be saying these things. He once again looked at those glassy, glowing eyes that seemed to focus and un-focus as he stared at him.

Rin was about to reply when the bell rang and he bit back his retort as the other teen and his group of friends left the classroom, followed by the others.

* * *

"What was that guy's issue anyway?" Rin grumbled as he swung his legs, sitting on the edge of a fountain with Shiemi and Yukio with him and his sword resting beside him. After class had ended they headed out to the courtyard for some fresh air and Rin couldn't help but notice that there were barely any other people around.

"Suguro? He's apparently a prodigy and is attending the school on a scholarship just like me." Yukio said, grinning towards his brother who just scoffed.

"Yeah, well, he shouldn't jump to conclusions like that."

Yukio sighed. "You know, you wouldn't have these issues if you just told them that you were blind."

At this Rin fell silent and glanced away from the two other figures. He knew he could just do that, just tell or show everyone the reasons behind his odd habits but he didn't want to. He didn't feel as though he could trust any of them with this secret, at least not yet. Plus, he didn't want to give Suguro anything else he can use against him or for anyone to treat him like he always needed help.

Yukio watched his brother fall silent and sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get an answer so he instead turned to his other student to his left.

"So, Shiemi have you gotten use to school yet?" He asked giving her a soft smile.

Shiemi looked to the floor before looking up at him once more. "Oh, um, no not really."

"Well, if you ask me you seem to have gotten a lot more confident in yourself. Look, just take it easy and be yourself." Yukio told her.

"Alright, thank you Yuki." Yukio smiled at her before jumping off of the ledge of the fountain.

"Alright, I better go, I have another class to teach." He said as his feet touched the ground and turned back to them. "Have a nice day you too and don't be late to your P.E. class." Then he looked directly at Shiemi. "Oh, and keep an eye on him for me ok?" He asked pointing to Rin.

"Oi!"

"Alright!"

Yukio just smiled and waved goodbye, leaving the two at the fountain.

For a while the two of them just sat in silence not really knowing what to talk about. It wasn't the first time they had been alone together, but that didn't mean they knew what to talk about. Eventually though, Rin thought of something.

"H-Hey, Shiemi," He spoke up looking towards her silhouette. "What classes do you take?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Oh, I mean at the regular school," Rin stuttered. "Do you take any of the classes there?"

He watched her figure shake her head before she squeaked, realizing what she just did and spoke up. "No, I'm too shy for something like that. I mean, I barely even went to my junior high classes."

Rin blinked before laughing. "Yeah, I barely went to my own junior high classes too."

Shiemi was quiet for a few moments before speaking up. "Hey Rin?" He quieted down and tilted his head.

"Yeah?"

"I don't really belong here, in cram school I mean, do I?"

"Why do you say that?"

Shiemi sighed. "You see, I don't really want to become an exorcist. If I did, I'd have to be as smart as Suguro and…I know I'll never be."

Rin frowned at that. "I mean, sure having a big brain is cool and all, but you're fine the way you are. The world needs all types of people, anyway."

Shiemi blinked up at him before reaching over and grasping his hand, making Rin freeze. "Rin?"

"Y-Yeah?" He stuttered, not really knowing what to do.

"We're…I mean we're…friend's right?" This made Rin freeze.

"I mean-" Just as he was about to speak a voice rang out.

"Well, well, well, isn't it a group of love birds over here." Suguro's voice rang out and Rin whipped his head around to glare at the approaching group of three.

"OI! We're not love birds!" Rin growled, wanting to stand up and march over to the other but he didn't want to risk looking like a fool if there's a stray rock or something in his path.

"She's your girlfriend right?" Suguro taunted.

"No! You've got the wrong idea!" Rin objected once again.

"So, what are you saying you two are just friends?"

Rin crossed his arms and scowled at the group. "Yeah, so? What about it?" He gestured to the figures behind him, an averaged height person with wavy flames and a shorter person with stutter-y yet smooth flames. "You're always hanging out with your pals. What, afraid of being alone?"

He waited for the other to shout back when laughter rang from the wavy flamed figure. Suguro growled and turned to his friend.

"Why the hell are you laughing Shima?!"

Shima continued laughing as he choked out, "He's right, we're always together."

"Hey, don't take his side!" Suguro growled before turning back to Rin, glaring at the other. Rin, in response, narrowed his own eyes just feeling the hate that rolled off of the other.

Meanwhile, their friends were watching the interactions with interest.

"They're really alike, aren't they." Shima hummed in observation.

"Yeah, they're so alike they seem to repel each other." Konekomaru, the other friend who accompanied Suguro, said.

Shiemi watched in the two worriedly. She didn't want Rin to do something that would get him in trouble. Biting her lip, she jumped down from the fountain and placed her hand on Rin's arm while grabbing his sword.

"Come on Rin, Yuki wouldn't want us to be late for P.E." She said, tugging on his arm a bit. Rin stopped growling at the other, but his glare remained as he jumped down from the ledge as well. Grasping his hand so he wouldn't end up doing anything stupid or embarrassing, Shiemi began to lead the other away from the group of three and towards their later class.

Once they reached the class, their teacher, Mr. Tsubaki, came up to them and addressed Rin.

"Now, I know about your situation and as such there will be some limitations for you in this class." He said. "However, I won't keep you out of every little thing. Unless I feel like you are unable to manipulate your situation to adapt to the field, you may part take in the class that day. Though, if you yourself don't feel confident enough, I won't force you, unless it's necessary, to take the lesson until you're ready."

Rin frowned, "I doubt I'll do that." He muttered. He was given his gym clothes, a pair of sweat pants and a shirt. He was directed to the changing rooms and took one of the private changing stalls when he found them just in case someone decided to walk in while he was changing. When he finished, he guided his way out of the changing room and continued on his way until he suddenly felt a hand grab his arm.

"Wha-"

"Be careful!" He heard Shiemi cry out. "You almost walked off the edge into the training grounds!"

Blinking, Rin reached out a foot and stepped with it only to feel no ground appear beneath it. Moving it back on the ledge, he turned in the direction he heard Shiemi's voice and smiled at her silhouette.

"Thanks Shiemi." He said and allowed her to guide him a few paces away from the edge before they sat down. Taking another look at her silhouette, he noticed the shape of her body hadn't changed much meaning she must not of changed clothes.

They chatted for a while before the other's arrive. Rin could feel Suguro's eyes upon his back, but chose to ignore him. After they had all changed clothes, they gathered before their teacher who began to explain today's class.

"Alright," Mr. Tsubaki said to the class. "Today, you will be training to anticipate a demon's movement. You will be training with Reapers," He pointed to the training course which had three large frog like creatures in cages. Rin could see their forms and figured that they were behind some sort of cage by the black lines that streaked through their flaming figures. "Two at a time. Let's see, to start off I'll have Suguro and-"

"I can do it." Rin spoke up. He saw the silhouettes all turn to him. He could tell Mr. Tsubaki was looking at him questioningly, no doubt wondering if it would be a good idea or not to let him take part in the exercise.

Finally Mr. Tsubaki spoke. "Alright. Suguro, Okumura, follow me." With that he lead his way over to the bar ladder that would bring them into the ring. Rin let Suguro go down first, not out of curtesy but because he needed to figure out where the bars were. Once he knew it was safe to start heading down, he carefully stepped out and found the first bar before turning a bit and planting both his feet on the bar beneath it while his hands gripped the top bar. He glanced up for a moment and saw a majority of the other's watching his carefully placed movements, Shiemi noticeably shifting nervously.

From below him, Suguro watched with curiosity as the other carefully made his way down to the sandy floor. He didn't understand why the other was taking such careful steps. He wanted, just as he had back in the classroom, to question it. To ask the other what was up with him. However, Rin reaches the ground and Mr. Tsubaki starts talking as he made his way up to the observation and control deck.

"You will run in a circle through the ring to keep the demon from catching you. I do have control to keep it from hurting you but hopefully you'll be fine without my interference."

Suguro thought it was a bit odd for the teacher to explain that they would be going in a circle when he noticed Rin, once again being odd and clinging close to the wall, his fingers just barely brushing the wall.

"Oi! You just going to stand over there?" He asked, crossing his arms and raising and eyebrow at the other.

Rin gritted his teeth. He could see the other standing there, watching him. "Yeah, well I don't want to get any closer to you!"

"Why you-" He was cut off by their teacher shouting start and one of the three cages opening. Reacting accordingly, Surguro burst off into a run with Rin quick on his tail.

Rin let his other senses drift out as he followed Suguro, using him as a guide of sorts. He could hear the demon behind him and he could feel the ground practically shake beneath its leaps. His sensitive ears could also pick up the words from the others as they watched from the safe area but he focused on keeping pace with Suguro so he wouldn't get lost and run into that demon behind them, not that he could do that but it felt better to say that rather than admit he'd run into the wall.

For a while they kept pace and Rin, really unable to help it, began to gain of Suguro. He focused enough to make sure the other was always in sight, but otherwise couldn't control the demonic speed he's been "gifted" with. Suguro was not blind to the other's advancing and felt as if the other may be trying to one up him. So, feeling bold, he shot out a leg as the other suddenly appeared next to him.

Rin had noticed his sudden increase in speed again, but didn't have time to pull back when he suddenly felt his leg get caught on something and he began falling forward, hitting the ground with a shout. The reaper was obviously closing in on him but it was stopped by a chain yanking it back.

"What are you thinking!?" Mr. Tsubaki yelled from where he was, Rin catching the sound of him leaving the teacher's area to come down to them. However, Rin wasn't stupid. Despite his inability to see, he and Suguro had gone around enough times to know that nothing had been there.

"What the hell!?" Rin shouted, not even bothering to turn to the other.

"I wasn't about to let a slacker like you suddenly gain a lead on me!" Suguro growled back. However, he couldn't help the feeling that doing that was even more of a jerky move then it should have been.

"Why you-" Rin stood unevenly up and was about to tackle the other when footsteps came near them, too many to be just the teacher.

"Suguro! What is wrong with you!?" Mr. Tsubaki exclaimed, storming over to the other after casting Rin a glance. "Come with me, I'd like to have a word with you."

"Yes sir." The other classmate sighed, following the teacher.

"Are you alright?" Rin jumped a bit at the sudden voice and turned to see two familiar silhouettes.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine." Curious about Shiemi not following the two, as he remembered her promise to Yukio, he glanced up to see her uneasily pacing around the edge of the arena. He figured, the two must have told her to stay there. Looking back to the others, he asked. "What's his problem?"

"Yeah, sorry about Bon." Shima laughed. "He's so serious, it's hard for him to cut other's some slack. Though, I guess it's partly because of his big ambitions."

Rin blinked in confusion and tilted his head. "Ambitions?"

"Yeah," Shima continued. "He says he wants to be an exorcist to he can defeat Satan."

Rin froze at this, laughing mentally. If anyone was going to have first go at the Demon Lord, it was him. After everything he and his demons caused him, it was Rin who was getting the first hit.

He must have given some sort of expression because Shima continued. "Yeah, pretty funny right?"

This made Rin blink. "What's so funny about it?" He asked, a bit defensively.

"It's not funny." Konekomaru said, shaking his head. "See, the whole thing with Bon is that he wants to restore our temple. It was all but ruined after the Blue Night."

"The Blue Night? What's that?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Bon was brought over to the side by Mr. Tsubaki.

"Now look here, Suguro, you're a top student here and all the teachers expect great things from you. It would be in your best interest not to cause trouble." Then he sighed. "I'm very disappointed in your actions, I expected better of you."

"I apologize sir." Suguro said, bowing to the other.

"Good, but I'd rather you apologize to Okumura. What you did to him with his situation is just unacceptable."

"His situation?" Suguro paused, confused by the other's choice of words.

Mr. Tsubaki blinked. "Yes, his situation. Don't you know or…" His eyes drifted over to where Rin was talking with Shima and Konekomaru. "Unless he hasn't told you, which would be very unwise of him. I'll have to talk with him about this or it could cause problems with your teamwork. I suppose it's alright for now if he can function in this exercise without you knowing and it is not my place to tell you. Though, if it comes to it, I will have to inform you all."

Suguro quirked an eyebrow at his teacher. "Sir?"

Mr. Tsubaki sighed, "Enough, you may go back to the others now." He began to head back up to the control station. Suguro furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and turned to look in the direction of Rin and his friends. There was something about the other, but he hasn't figured it out yet. He had a few suspicions but he didn't know when to try and test them.

* * *

The other two stared at Rin in shock making him shift beneath their gazes. "What?"

"You mean you don't know what that is?" Shima asked, shock painting his voice.

"No."

"Then you're one of the few ones then."

"The Blue Night happened 16 years ago," Konekomaru continued were Shima left off. "When Satan massacred the world's most prominent clergymen. According to what our priest have told us, on that night, 16 years ago, the exorcists suddenly started bleeding all over and then died sprouting blue flames all over." Konekomaru shivered as he explained the story.

 _'Blue flames…'_ Rin thought as he let his gaze drift over their forms, taking in the way the blue flames flickered and created their silhouettes.

"You see," Shima spoke up seeing as Konekomaru needed a break from the tale. "Blue flames are the symbol of Satan." Rin kept himself from gasping, keeping himself from wanting to close his eyes for just a moment so he didn't have to see the connection that made it clear he was the bastard-who-killed-his-father's son. "You see, the priest who told us this was in training at the time. When this happened, he huddled in a corner until dawn since he couldn't stand. After that night, he finished training and took over the temple. However, because so many monks had died there in one day, people were spooked and refused to come. Ever since then, it's been called the cursed temple."

"Both Shima and I are apprentice monks at Bon's temple." Konekomaru spoke up, finally able to continue tell the story. "We followed him to cram school. Hoping to be able to restore the temple."

Shima rubbed the back of his neck. "See, Bon's not that bad of a guy…"

Rin tuned out anything else he had to say. He looked around the darkness until he spotted Suguro off to the side, Mr. Tsubaki walking away at the moment. He stared at the flaming figure with a thought in his mind.

_'The child of a cursed temple, huh?'_

* * *

A sharp sound of a phone ringing rang through the training area. Those who were about to climb up the ladder to the top froze and everyone turned in the direction of the noise. They stare as their teacher answers before leaving them, telling them to get out of the ring as soon as possible before leaving, crying out about someone named 'Kitty'.

"Is this even allowed?" A voice from the viewing area of the arena spoke up.

"Should he even be allowed to be called a teacher?" Shima asked.

"I thought True Cross was supposed to have the best teachers," Suguro grumbled before glancing at Rin, who was waiting at the bottom of the latter. "But then again, so were the students."

Rin scowled, but didn't bother to look in the other's direction. "What are you implying huh?"

"Oh come on! You never pay attention in class but you never get called out on it!" Suguro exploded, his raised voice making Rin turn to him and see his silhouette pointing a finger at him.

"Oi!"

"Not only that, but apparently you have something that makes you different than the rest of us! Just what is your situation that Mr. Tsubaki mentioned, huh?" Rin gritted his teeth in anger towards the other's words.

"It's none of your business!"

"It is if it applies to our ability to work as a team. It might not be now, but eventually we will all be forced to work with each other, and I don't want you to be keeping any secrets that can effect that!" Suguro shot back. He was watching Rin, his quick mind trying to discover the secret of the navy haired boy. His eyes continually shot to look at his blue ones, noticing the unfocused gaze despite it being directed on him. Occasionally the eyes would brighten and focus but most of the time they kept that glassy gaze.

And Suguro knew, in his gut, that it was something to do with the other's eyes.

"Fine," Suguro continued. "If your certain that nothing will happen with whatever your situation is, then I dare you to go up to the Reaper over there and touch its chain. If not, then you have to tell us whatever it is that you have."

In his mind, Suguro smirked, figuring that Rin would choose one or the other. Either way, he was certain he would find something out that would help him with uncovering the other's secret.

Rin stared at the other and silence took over the training area for a few moments before Rin finally responded. "Che…and here I thought you were smart. I'm not going to risk my life because I think you'll be able to get me to tell you whatever it is you want to know. Besides," He sighed. "I have the same ambition as you. If I'm going to achieve it, I can't risk dying because of something stupid."

"What?" He questions, clearly confused before something clicks. "Wait, ambition-YOU TOLD HIM?!" Suguro cries out to the two who have already climbed up the latter.

"Well…" They trailed off, nervously responding to their raging friend down below.

"Tch, ambition my ass!" Suguro growled back at Rin. "I bet you're just scared! You're some rich kid with special privileges who's too scared to admit when he's weak or something! Well, I'll show you. I'll show you that a real exorcist isn't afraid of doing simple things." With that, he spun around and began to approach the Reaper.

Rin watched the silhouette walk away towards the frog like one further away. His sensitive hearing could pick up every muttered word of the other as he approached the demon. He watched the other stop before it as he shouted "…and I'll be the one to defeat Satan!"

It was quiet in response to that. No one said anything or made any noise. Then, it was broken by a snort from a female up on the viewing platform, Izumo if Rin is remembering correctly.

"Defeat Satan? What is he a child?" Suguro tensed at the laughter, memories of his past playing in his head. Rin watch him tense and his focus shifted to the still Reaper. He knew that something would happen and that he would need to act fast. He shifted just slightly to be ready to act, because he always trusted his instincts.

Then multiple things happened within a few seconds. Suguro broke under the laughter, the Reaper leaped to attack, and Rin moved to intervene.

Despite the fact he didn't know if there would be anything in his way on the ground as he move across the sand, Rin moved as quickly as possible to the other page's position. He noticed the Reaper coming down, its jaws opening and preparing to crush the other exorcist in training, but Rin pushing the other away just as the jaws closed. He felt the teeth pierce his shirt and skin as his body continued to move forward.

Clenching his teeth against the slight pinch he felt in his stomach, he let his gaze travel to the figure of the head of the demon. For a moment, he could see where its eyes would be and let his own blazing blue one's meet them as he growled out a strict, " _Let go."_

The demon clearly realized his power and opened its mouth to let him free. Rin then continued to fall forward, falling to his hands and knees next to Suguro who was lying on his back on the ground.

Rin took the time to catch his breath before tilting his head slightly in the direction of Suguro. "What are you an idiot?"

"Wha-"

"Listen up. I don't care how determined or better you think you are." He let his eyes fall on the other's silhouette as he declared. "I'm the one who's going to defeat Satan!"

"Oi!" Suguro shouted, standing up to glare down at Rin, who was slowly getting back on his feet. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You could have been killed! And don't steal my ambition!"

"Steal? I'm not stealing anything! I was the original!"

"No you aren't! I am!"

"Oh yeah? Then when exactly did you say you would defeat Satan? What year, what month, what day, hour, minute, sec-"

"Rin!" He was cut off by Shiemi's voice and he turned just in time to see her stop running right next to him.

"Shiemi?" He questioned, confused as to why she would be down here.

"What do you think you're doing? You got hurt!" He saw her arm point at his stomach and he thought to the little cuts he may have gotten. Placing his hand on the holes in his shirt, he grinned, feeling smooth skin beneath.

"Don't worry, it only ripped my shirt, Shiemi." Rin said, trying to calm the usually shy girl who was probably only acting like this because of his actions.

"Rin! You could have been seriously hurt! Yuki told me to watch out for you, so you didn't hurt yourself! You probably didn't even see the Reaper when you ran forward!" She huffed and Rin was a little put off by her motherly attitude.

"Well no, I kinda just heard the movement, but I didn't want this idiot getting hurt and Yukio blaming me or something stupid!" Rin defended. Neither he nor Shiemi realized they just spilled his secret to the class.

"You mean, you can't see?"

Rin froze at the voice that broke his and Shiemi's conversation. Gulping, he slowly turned to face the direction of Suguro, who had spoken up with his question that was more like a statement.

"Er…well…I…" Rin stuttered, trying to find a way out of this, only to fail.

"You idiot!" Suguro exploded, smacking the other on the head. "Why would you keep something like that a secret?! That isn't something you keep to yourself when you're on a team!" He sighed and calmed down a little. "But that at least explains a few things."

"You mean, you don't care?" Rin asked, surprised by the others not so expected response.

"Of course I care!" Suguro exploded. "What do you think I'm heartless or something! I'm just saying that explains why to don't participate during class! Now I know why you have a reason to do the things you do, 'cause you're limited."

"Oi! Don't treat me like I'm fragile or something!"

"This isn't something to ignore!"

"What not? It doesn't change anything!"

"How does this not change anything?!"

The others just watch on in silence, shocked by the revelation but unable to do anything about it.

Meanwhile, up in the shadows of the one of the hallways to the training room, Yukio sighed and put away his gun. He watched as his brother argued with Suguro, a little happy that he no longer had a reason to hide his blindness. However, one thing left him with questions. How did his brother know where the Reaper was and where to stand between Suguro and the demon? True, he could have followed the sound but the placement was took good for it to have been just off of sound. Sighing, he listened back to the devise near his ear.

"Everything's under control." He spoke into his phone.

"…"

"No, he didn't draw the sword."

"…"

"Goodbye." Yukio closed his phone and took one last look at his students before turning back down the hallway.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So side note for the end of the chapter
> 
> Ok so I know you're probably wondering about the blanket thing when he can see their outline with clothes on and not with the blanket. You see, he sees people or living things, not inanimate objects. With clothes on, the flames are still visible as they can be used as a way to show a person if they are on the person, but if they are taken off he can no longer see them since they are no longer used to distinguish what the person would look like to normal eyes. The blanket is not part of the person, its just covering them. This means if a person were to hide beneath a blanket Rin wouldn't see them (of course he has other senses though). Now, if the blanket was suddenly turned into a dress for someone, not just covering them, then he would see it, but not as brightly as just the actual parts like hair or skin, really though just the outlines since unless he's close enough (like really close) or has his sword open he can't see any features like eyes or noses, same goes for clothes, they are just dimmer then the flames that make out the outline of limbs or hair. I hope that explains it.

Yukio hid a smile as he entered the classroom at the end of the day to teach their final class. He noticed the glances the others were giving Rin, who could most likely feel the looks they were giving him. Occasionally Rin would do something subtle but it would have everyone's eyes directed on him and he could see he was barely holding back a growl at them.

Giving a cough to get his class's attention, he was met with various gazes of surprise. "May I ask what this is all about?" He asked, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"Mr. Okumura, sir, if I might ask, why were we never told that Okumura was blind?" Suguro spoke up. Yukio was about to reply when Rin cut him off.

"Because it was none of your business!" Rin growled out and his words made a vain appear on Suguro's forehead.

"What the hell! Of course it's our business! How many times do we have to tell you this before you get it through your thick skull?!" Suguro exploded, standing up in his seat.

"Rin-" Shiemi cried as she placed a hand on Rin's arm to keep him from getting up.

"Look, Bon calm down." Shima said with a nervous laugh, trying to hold his larger friend back with Konekomaru.

"As much as I don't want him to hurt you, I have to agree with Bon with this, Rin." Konekomaru spoke up as he aided Shima. "We just think that in order for all of us to work as a team and help each other, we would need to know these things."

Rin seemed to cool down a little at his words, slumping a bit in his seat as he turned his sightless eyes down to the floor. "I know…I just…" He trailed off, not knowing what to say to defend his reasons without admitting to the fact that he hadn't wanted to see their reactions to his blindness.

"Were you scared about how'd we react?" Shima asked, uncharacteristic seriousness in his voice. "I mean, that would be rather silly of you don't you think? I mean, it would have been better to just get it out of the way you know."

"Is that what you were worried about?!" Suguro exploded.

"Well, I…"

"You're an idiot, you know that right." Izumo huffed out. Rin's eyes grew wide and he turned to face her direction, glaring at the fiery form that was Izumo.

"Oi!"

"Alright, that's enough." Yukio's voice cut through the room, making everyone quiet down, save Rin who was quietly grumbling in his seat as he buried his face in his arms.

Yukio sighed as he looked at his brother before continuing his speech. "It's true that this was kept from all of you and the reason I did not inform you of Rin's disability was because he did not wish for it to be revealed to you all, though that doesn't mean I didn't push him to tell you." He gave a pointed look towards Rin, knowing the other would at least feel it if he couldn't see it. "However, I'm glad that you do know now. This also means that Rin had one less reason to not bring his necessary equipment." Rin let out a quiet growl.

Yukio sighed at his brother's behavior before deciding to continue with their final lesson for the day. By the time class ended, the other students were packing up and, as they left, they each had something to say to Rin. Yukio had to say the most entertaining one was when Suguro smacked his brother on the head and told him to stop being an idiot before leaving.

Rin continued to scowl, not all that happy about his condition being out. He really hoped the others didn't start acting strange.

"Rin." Said teen was brought out of his thoughts by his brother's voice. Tilting his head up, he watched the flaming form move towards desk and sighed as he stood up. Tracing his way around the desk, Rin approached his brother and stopped right before him, giving the other a smile.

"So, we going home now?"

"No." Yukio answered with a shake of his head, despite knowing Rin wouldn't see it, and started walking forwards knowing Rin would listen to his footsteps to follow him. "I don't have much homework and I don't have to go out on a mission later tonight, and you don't have much homework other then what I help you with, so I figured we could stop by the hospital and see dad."

Rin paused in his walk with a soft gasp. It's been a while since they last visited the old man, being so busy with not only school and the exorcist training, but also adjusting to his new…predicament as well. Not only that but he was also dealing with the guilt he still felt over Shiro's state, not that he told Yukio this. His brother already had enough on his plate, especially concerning him, so he didn't want to bother him with anything else.

Yukio seemed to take notice of his hesitation and turned around to face him. Rin's head was bowed and his eyes, despite their state, were expressing his many emotions.

"…Rin?" Yukio asked, reaching forward to place his hand one of Rin's shoulders. Rin tensed at the contact at first before relaxing and titling his head just slightly up and giving his brother a smile.

"I'm fine." He said, hoping that his observant brother would by the smile he was giving him. "Come on, we don't want to keep him waiting right?"

Yukio frowned, clearly seeing something was bothering his twin but didn't comment as he watched his brother walk ahead of him. Taking a deep breath to keep silent on this matter for now, Yukio quickly caught up to his brother.

"Don't go too far ahead, Rin." He scolded shaking his head. "I don't want something happening to you."

Rin rolled his eyes as he slowed his pace to be next to his brother, listening as he pulled out his ring of keys. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Why are you taking so long to open a door? I mean, seriously!"

* * *

They headed to the room Shiro was being kept in, the entire walk being silent as they neared the door. Rin listened to Yukio's footsteps and watched his silhouette, waiting to see when he stopped moving. When he did, Rin stopped as well and watched as the figure of his brother reached a hand out into the empty blackness that made up most of his vision and heard the sound of a door opening.

He followed Yukio inside and stood silently in the middle of the room as he watched Yukio's brightly glowing form stand before a very dim one. His gaze focused on the dim form, the one he knew to be his adoptive father. He couldn't see much of the body, meaning that a blanket must have been covering the other, but from what he could see was his head down to his chest and booth of his arms, no doubt one that included a bunch of wires connecting him to the machines beeping in the background and one that seemed to be covered in something because it was slightly larger than the other and not as bright.

A hand on his back alerted him to Yukio standing once more beside him, creating a bit of pressure from his hand on his back to make Rin understand he wanted him to move. He let Yukio guide him to a chair sitting beside the bedside of their adoptive father and he watched out of the corner of his eye to see Yukio take a seat as well.

Rin turned his attention back to the flames flickering in his vision. He could see the dim lights in the darkness that made up his vision most of the time. He trailed his eyes over what he could see, knowing with a sick feeling of guilt in his stomach that those flames could be brighter, that they could shine lively like Yukio's. But they weren't, and the only comfort he could take from their dullness was that they were at least brighter than they were when he first saw him, when he first found out he could see the silhouette.

With them getting brighter, he knew that this must mean his health was getting better as well. He didn't know when he would wake up but this at least told him that there was a possibility of it. Because with the way they were growing stronger, he knew the old man was too stubborn to give up on life, especially if he was on his way of making a recovery.

He reached out a slightly trembling hand, reaching for the dim light he could see of the limb one on the bed. He could see Yukio turn slightly as he reached forward, no doubt worried he would need help finding what he was reaching for.

But he didn't. Rin grasped the hand and shivered a bit at the coldness of it compared to his own hand. He would have thought the other dead if it weren't for the faint breathing his hearing could pick up on and the flames making up the other's silhouette.

"…Yukio?" Rin called out, uncharacteristically soft. "Do you think he'll wake up soon?

Yukio was silent. Staring at his father figure he's known all his life, he didn't know what to tell his brother. He took a deep breath before answering. "I don't know Rin, but he's getting better so I can happen. But, even as a doctor, I couldn't answer your question if I was working here."

"…Oh."

It was silent for a few moments, neither of them wanting to break it as they sat there, thinking of their own thoughts as they watched the older man just simply rest on the bed.

"Yukio?" Rin spoke once more.

"Yes?"

"How does he look?"

Yukio was silent once again at Rin's question. He let his eyes travel over Shiro's form. Noticing that, despite the massive blood loss, the only real wounds were his hand and chest. He could have fooled them into thinking he was just sleeping if it weren't for the wounds and machines around him helping him stay alive.

"Yukio?"

"Ah…sorry." Yukio took a deep breath once more before answering. "He looks like he's sleeping really. If you just ignore all the signs that he's in a hospital, it would be just like he was napping."

Rin chuckled. "So, like all those times we caught him sleeping in the chapel when it was after those really early masses and he would deny it?"

Yukio smirked and Rin could hear in in his voice when he replied. "Yeah, exactly."

Rin smiled as he continued to gaze at the form before him.

Yukio turned to look at his brother and took in the smile on his face. He could see so many emotions translated with such subtleness that if Yukio wasn't as observant as he was, he would have never been able to catch them all, and still he could not clearly decipher each emotion given by his expressive brother. However, some stood out more than others and one of those that he caught was guilt on his brother's face, guilt mixed with an odd combination of sadness and a smile. It was so similar to the expression he had earlier in the hallway of cram school and Yukio wanted to speak up. He knew Rin was keeping things from him, big things, but he didn't know what it was exactly. He wanted to have Rin be able to rely on him, but his brother wasn't willing to do that it seemed.

Yukio scowled at the thought. Why did his brother have to be so stubborn and selfless? He didn't always act like it, but in reality Rin was probably one of the nicest souls here in the world. But that also meant there were many times that Yukio wanted to punch his brother because of his decisions to deal with things on his own in his own way. That was no doubt part of the case now.

"Rin, are you alright?" Yukio asked, furrowing his eyebrows in worry for his twin.

"Huh?" Rin asked in confusion. "Of course I am Yukio, why wouldn't I be?"

Yukio was silent before pressing on. "Rin, you know if there is anything wrong, you can tell me what the problem is, right?"

"Yeah of course."

"Rin-"

"I'm _fine_ Yukio." Rin bit back with a growl. Taking a deep breath he continued. "Look, if I ever felt there was something you absolutely needed to know, I would tell you, alright? If it was something that was very important, I'd let you know."

Yukio frowned. He knew for a fact that his idea of what was important and Rin's ideas of what was important were very different. He wanted to speak up, to continue pushing his brother to tell him what he was hiding but he also knew this wasn't the place for that because he knew his brother had a bit of a temper when feeling cornered.

With a sigh, he decided to let it go for now, but this wouldn't be the last of it. He knew his brother was hiding something beyond feelings, something the allowed him to know exactly where to get in between Suguro and the Reaper, where not to attack the demon that had used Shiemi as a shield. He wanted Rin to tell him what was going on, but he didn't know how to breach the subject.

As for Rin, he knew that his brother was trying to push him into admitting to a few things, but he couldn't. He didn't want to tell Yukio of the guilt bubbling in his chest, to burden him with what was clearly something that was his own problem as it was his fault to it being there in the first place. And the other thing, no doubt about what he could see, was what Yukio was pressing him for. He wanted to tell him, but he didn't know how he would react. How would Yukio react to knowing that, for probably the rest of his life, he will see only blue flames to help him understand a person and his other senses along with it? That the flames he saw showed how a person was in soul and that he could also see how close they were to death. That these flames that glowed with the fire of the being who killed their father was the only thing left of his sight that allowed him to know where only people were.

That's why he didn't say anything. Because he didn't know how Yukio would react, he didn't want to risk it.

Once again they lapsed into silence neither knowing what to say as they sat in the hospital room that was keeping their adoptive father alive. Yukio would gaze at his father figure before occasionally letting his eyes flicker over to his brother and back again. Rin would only gaze at the flames that made up their father figure, quietly thanking anyone he could think of that the flames that sat in the inky space of his vision were at least still glowing.

Rin let his eyes drift over to his brother, tracing over the brightly lit and calm flames that made up his brother's figure. He could tell he was in turmoil, the little subtleties that allowed him to tell speaking out clearly to his senses. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, attracting attention from his brother.

"I want to do something special tonight." He voiced, and Yukio raised an eyebrow at him.

"And what would that be." Rin grinned, knowing what he said next would send his brother into a worried fit but it would be worth it.

"I think we deserve something of good quality tonight."

"Good quality? What do you mean?" Yukio didn't like the smirk growing on his brother's face.

"You know, to eat." Rin said casually, waiting for the moment for Yukio's smart mind to click onto what he was implying. "I think we deserve food that's not take out for dinner. Now, I know we don't always get take out, something I'm still questioning since I _know_ you can't cook, but tonight it will be my treat."

"You're treat? What do you-NO!" It finally clicked for Yukio. "Rin you are not going to risk cooking when you're like this!"

Rin expected this reaction and was prepared to fight for what he wanted to do. "But Yukio! You can't deny that you've missed my cooking! Admit it! You want to eat my food!"

"Rin!" Yukio exploded as he stood up, face flushed as he was clearly flustered by Rin's words. "I'll…admit that your cooking is good but I'm not going to risk you harming yourself because you can't see what you're doing!"

"Oh come on! I have demonic healing, what could hurt me!? Not only that, but I have other senses as well Yukio! If I just figure out where everything is then I'll be fine."

"Rin, I don't think-"

"Yukio!" Rin whined. "Just trust me would ya! I know what I'm doing!" _'Besides,_ ' He thought. _'There's something I want to look into.'_ "Look just help me buy the ingredients to whatever it is you want to eat, ok? And if that's not enough, I don't know, I'll do something else for you ok?"

Yukio sighed, knowing his brother wouldn't drop it he muttered out a fine before gripping his brother's arm and pulling him out of the chair. They both said goodbye to their father, even if he couldn't hear them, before leaving the room with Yukio leading.

Rin had a large smirk on his face as he allowed himself to be dragged by his brother. He would not let his new disability to take away one of his favorite hobbies.


	7. Chapter 7

After they picked up the ingredients for what Rin was going to cook, Yukio having suggested something simple so there were less risks which meant less ingredients to cook much to Rin's chagrin, they arrived back at the dorm and headed into the kitchen. Rin had Yukio help him set everything up before standing proudly, his eyes gazing in the direction in the darkness that he knew was where everything was set up.

"Alright!" Rin cried, eyes shining with joy and tail, now free, waving around happily. "It's time to get started! But first," He turned to where Yukio was standing and pointed at him. "You need to leave."

"What?!" Yukio exclaimed, staring at his brother in shock. "Rin, I'm not leaving you to cook by yourself!"

Rin huffed and crossed his arms, pouting at the other. "Oh come on! I'll be fine! I know where everything is and I've taken the time to explore the kitchen already. Besides, you know I don't like it when you're in the kitchen when I'm cooking."

"Rin-" Yukio was cut off by his brother moving forward and forcing is taller form out of the kitchen with his demonic strength.

"Out~!" Rin cried as he shoved his brother out the door and, after scrambling for the nob, closed the door to the kitchen on his brother.

Yukio stared at the door in shock before frowning. "Fine, but if I hear one thing that doesn't sound right, I'm coming back in there!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Was what he got in reply from inside the kitchen. Yukio sighed before taking a seat at the table just in front of the kitchen, resting his head on his hand after he placed Rin's sword, which had been given to him to keep out of the way, on the table and he worried for his brother. Honestly, he had no self-preservation at times.

Meanwhile, inside the kitchen, Rin dusted off his hands, a satisfied look on his face. He turned away from where he knew the door was and took careful steps back into the direction of where his things were set up to cook. He reached forwards, making sure that he stood in front of the stove and grinned when his hand met the metal of it. He knew his time spent exploring the dorm and getting familiar with it wasn't wasted, especially when he spent most of his time in the kitchen, memorizing it so he could one day get the chance he was doing now. Of course, he did that without Yukio's knowledge.

Moving his hand slightly downwards, he met the knob for the burner and, after making sure it was the one that the pot filled with water was on top of, turned it, listening to the number of clicks and feeling the heat of the fire to tell when it was at the perfect point.

Letting his hand drop from the stove, he moved his hand along through the air to the counter beside the stove. He moved to reach for one of the ingrediants he would need when his sensitive ears twitched, catching a very faint sound of shuffling. It was so slight that he doubted would have been able to hear it if his ears weren't extra sensitive from both his blindness and his demon blood. He probably wouldn't have even payed it any mind if it had been faintly heard in the middle of his cooking.

However, he expected it.

In all his time of exploring the dorm with his enhanced senses, trying to find where everything was so he wouldn't be hopeless in the one place he would be living for who knows how long, he had visited the kitchen area many times when Yukio wasn't aware. His brother knew when he would be getting to know the dorm, having agreed to the idea and wouldn't object for Rin to know where the kitchen was, but he took his time to memorize the kitchen without Yukio knowing.

During that time, he learned they weren't the only one in the dorms. Of course, Rin knew that someone was making the food each morning, it was too good to be Yukio's cooking. Plus, his brother spent most of the morning getting ready for the day. It wasn't until he heard the slight shuffling during one of his explorations when he was testing out the stove did he suspect something.

Rin stayed quiet for a few seconds, not even moving an inch as he listened for any sign from whatever was in the kitchen with him. There was not another sign of the other being in the room, so Rin decided to turn his head, searching the darkness for a speck of blue that told him of someone else being there.

For a while, he couldn't see anything, making his frown at the thought that whoever or whatever this was it was hiding behind something. With a huff, Rin turned back to the meal he was about to cook, once again reaching for his ingredients. It wasn't until he started to cook did a noise come once more, the sound of shuffling accompanied by the squeak of a cabinet. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of blue and grinned, turning towards it.

"Ah ha!" He exclaimed, but not loud enough to send Yukio running in there, as he turned to see the other being. He took in the small stature of the demon, as that's what he identified it as, and took note it was probably standing on one of the counters. He noticed that it had a pair of horns upon its head along with large ears and hands. A forked tail swayed behind it. He could tell it was glaring at him, but that only made him smile at the flaming demon.

"So, you're whose been cooking for us." Rin said. "You know, you're really good at that. I'm glad I finally get the chance to-"

 **"Out."** Rin paused at the voice that rang through his head suddenly. He didn't know what to think as this was entirely new to him. He at first thought he was imagining it but that was forgotten when he heard it again. **"Get out. You are not welcome in my territory."**

Rin blinked a few more times before he realized where the voice was coming from. It made sense since he occasionally heard a squeak from the demon but he was otherwise mostly silent. "Ah, so I can understand you. That helps." However, he didn't notice that in his confusion, the demon had made his way to his pot, as was about to disturb the food cooking there when Rin sprang forwards, smacking his hand away from the pot. "OI! Don't you know it's rude to mess with a chef's cooking?"

The demon growled at him. **"You are not allowed to cook here."**

"Why not? I'm living here. Besides, I bought this food." He turned back to said food when he could smell something off with it, knowing it was because he wasn't tending to the food. Ignoring the growling demon, he instantly set to work fixing whatever problem began with the distraction of the demon's arrival.

Soon, Rin completely forgot about his audience as he set to work making this dinner, grabbing what he needed from where he knew it was. Occasionally he would make a small mistake due to his inability to see what he was doing, but he was quick to fix it. He got so into his cooking that, when he reached for something, he didn't realize that there was a certain demon standing right in front of him.

"GAH!" He exclaimed, jumping away from the demon and ending up slamming in the counter behind him. He groaned as he continued hoping Yukio hadn't heard his cry. "Don't do that!"

The demon ignored him as it observed, no doubt, his cooking. He was silent as he watched the demon tilt its head and lean forward, sniffing the dinner. He watched as its large hand reached down to pick up something and move its hand. His ears picked up the sound of it dipping something inside of the pot and taking it out before taking a sip of what he was cooking. It was then Rin processed that it was tasting his food.

"Hey! I didn't say you could taste that!" Rin was about to continue yelling at it when a voice in his head cut him off.

 **"This is good."** The demon stated. **"It could be a bit spicier but I can't deny this is very well done even if it's not complete yet. You've earned my respect."**

"Oh, er…thanks." Rin said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "I mean, this is the first time I've gotten back in the kitchen since…this." He motioned to his eyes. He figured the demon knew what he was talking about, no doubt having seen him in the kitchen.

Rin sighed. "It would be better if I had a better sense of what I was doing but," he shrugged. "If you're saying it's good enough to earn your respect then I guess it's not completely hopeless."

His ears suddenly picked up the sound of something being added to the pot full of the dinner he was cooking. From the new smell coming from the pot he could figure out a spice was added to it, and he would be able to figure it out as well if he wasn't focused on the demon suddenly working on his food.

"Hey, what are you-" Rin paused when a voice cut him off.

 **"You have earned my respect."** The demon said and Rin could see the slight shrug of its shoulders. **  
"As such, I've decided to help you."**

Rin blinked before smiling. "Oh, thanks! I guess this makes us partners now, right? This is going to be great!" He held out his hand to the demon. "Thanks…er…do you have a name?"

He watched the head nod as the demon answered, **"Ukobach."**

Rin smiled even brighter. "It's great to be working with you, Ukobach." The two shook hands and Rin was about to reach for a spoon to stir the contents within the pot with when his hand hit said pot, not having realized where he was standing and the difference of his position from before.

"SHIT!" Rin cried out in pain cradling his hand to his chest as he felt his demonic healing kick in to heal the burn. He thought he was free to go when the door to the kitchen suddenly swung open and he heard his brother's voice.

"Rin! Are you alright?" Yukio exclaimed but he suddenly quieted at the sight of Ukobach. Rin could feel the tension slowly rise in the air as the two stared at each other. Before Rin could say anything to defuse the tension, Yukio suddenly had out one of his guns and was pointing it at Ukobach.

Despite being unable to see the weapon, Rin knew just what Yukio had done and quickly stepped into the line of fire, knowing his brother wouldn't shoot now, or at least he hoped so.

"No! Don't shoot him Yukio!" Rin exclaimed, glaring at his brother. "He hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Rin, there is a demon standing by our dinner! He might be trying to do something!" Yukio shouted.

Rin scowled. "You're an idiot, you know that? Ukobach hasn't done anything. In fact, he's helping out."

"Ukobach?"

"That's his name. Ukobach has actually been the one to be cooking for us in the past, which makes sense since I know you can't cook." Rin stated pointedly. "Not every demon is out to get us. Now, apologize to Ukobach."

"What?!"

"You heard me! It's very rude to barge in here when we're cooking and then to point a gun at one of the chefs?! That's just wrong Yukio!"

"I thought you got hurt!" Yukio stuttered out in frustration towards his brother.

Rin raised an eyebrow. "Do I look hurt?"

"No, but-"

"See? It's fine! Now, apologize!"

Yukio sighed in frustration before turning to Ukobach, who had returned to the food. "I apologize for my behavior. Also, I would like to thank you for your meals from before."

Yukio received a slight tilt of the head, the cooking demon not even turning away from the dish.

"Now," Rin suddenly spoke up, making Yukio turn to look at him. "Get out!"

And Yukio was forced out of the kitchen once more, the sound of Rin talking to Ukobach about the dinner behind him. Yukio sighed at his brother's behavior, but let it slide this once.

That night, Yukio was greeted with the best dinner he's has in a long time and a brightly smiling Rin.


	8. Chapter 8

Rin smiled triumphantly as he made his way to the door that opened up to his cram school class room. He had managed once again to avoid taking his cane with him to school, much to both Yukio and his personal teacher annoyance, and has since been able to avoid Yukio until cram school. Even if the other's found out about the fact he was basically blind, it didn't mean he had to go around actual school with the cane. As for cram school, he's been doing just fine without it.

So when Rin reached forward to open the door, he wasn't prepared for his brother to be standing there, Yukio speaking before he got the chance to take in his silhouette appearing in the blackness.

"You seemed to have forgotten something at home Rin." Yukio spoke and Rin could hear the annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah? I don't think so, I had all my things for school." Rin said, attempting to avoid the subject.

"Really?" Yukio spoke and at that same moment Rin heard a very familiar sound tap the ground just as his brother moved his hand forward for his own hand to feel what he was holding.

"Look I don't need to use it." Yukio sighed at his brother's stubbornness.

"Rin it would be good for you to learn how to use it! What will happen when you come into unfamiliar areas?"

"I don't need it! I can get around just fine!" With that Rin shoved past his brother but in his attempt to prove to the other he was perfectly fine with moving around, he did the opposite. Stifling his yelp as he stubbed his foot into the leg of one of the desks, he ignored the look he could feel he was getting from Yukio.

"Idiot, just use the cane." This time Rin did yelp when he suddenly felt Suguro's hand on his shoulder.

"Oi! I'm not an idiot!" Rin growled at the other, grumbling when the other student took it upon himself, even if he didn't say so, to guide Rin to his seat in the classroom.

"You are an idiot." Rin heard Izumo's voice from her seat. "You could obviously get hurt without knowing exactly what's coming, not that I would care since it would be entirely your fault."

"Izumo." Paku's voice came as she sighed at her friend's behavior.

"Look, just use the cane." Suguro sighed at the other.

"I don't-"

"Please Rin?" Shiemi's voice cut him off make his snap his mouth closed. He fell silent before sighing.

"Fine." He relented, his frown only deepening when he heard the sound of the cane being place on the desk.

"Finally, the stupid monkey's made a smart decision." Suguro grumbled.

"Hey! Who are you calling a monkey you…uh…" Rin scrambled for a moment before shouting the first thing that came to his mind. "You rooster!"

"Rooster?!"

"Er…yeah! Cause you're really annoying sometimes and I bet…uh…" He took a quick glance up at the taller student's hair, trying to see if his hair curved in a certain way. He thought he could make out a bump in the middle of his head and could only guess that was hair. "Your hair looks like a rooster!"

This got a laugh out of Shima. "Hey you know, I never really thought about it but-"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence Shima!"

"So it does look like a rooster!" Rin cried triumphantly with a bright grin.

"Why you-"

"Alright, everyone calm down." Yukio spoke up, breaking the fight up before it started to get too aggressive. However, as everyone else returned to their seats, he kept his gaze on his brother.

He had seen the very small motion he had done, when he glanced up at Suguro's hair. One would think it would have been an unconscious reaction since if he still had his sight he probably would have done that, but Yukio knew better. He had seen the way if focused longer than it should have, the way his eyes seemed to focus for a second wand glow slightly a little brighter before returning to their normal state.

He knew his brother was keeping something from him, little things like this were enough to confirm it, and he was getting tired of waiting. He would confront his brother about it once they were back at the dorm.

With that, he started teaching his class for the day.

* * *

Once cram school was over for the day, Rin and Yukio headed back for their home at the abandoned dorms. Rin grumbled the entire day because any time they had to get up and go somewhere and, though it wasn't much, they all made sure he used his cane, which had made Rin very irritated at his classmates. At home, they ate before heading up to their room, and it was then when Yukio decided it was time to know what Rin was hiding.

"Rin."

"Hmm?" Rin tilted his head to look at his brother. He raised an eyebrow when he wasn't answered right away and leaned back in his desk chair with a bored expression.

Yukio sighed as he watch him brother before crossing his arms and speaking. "Alright, I'm not going to dance around this." Rin was about to open his mouth to ask what he was talking about when Yukio continued. "Rin, what are you hiding from me?"

Even though it was a question, Rin couldn't help but hear the demand behind it and flinched slightly with a nervous smile on his face. He never had been a good liar. "What do you mean, Yukio?"

Yukio frowned at his brother. "I think you know exactly what I mean Rin."

Again, another flinch. "Look, its nothing important. If it was, I'd tell you, which I told you already before."

"Rin, your important is very different from my important."

"Well, I'm sorry it is that way, but that is just how we think."

"Rin!"

"What? I told you, it's not important."

"Then explain to me how you knew where the Reaper was when it attacked Suguro." Rin fell silent before glaring at his brother.

"You were spying on us?!"

"Your teacher left and they needed a substitute. I happened to arrive at that moment." Yukio easily lied. "But that's not the point here. The point here is how you knew were to land between them."

"I just listened, that's all." Rin said. It was technically the truth, even if he had used their silhouettes as a mark.

"Really?" Yukio didn't believe him for a second. "Then what about Shiemi, when we were saving her from the demon in her garden? How did you know not to strike? And just now in the classroom, I saw you look up at Suguro before responding to him."

"I-"

"Don't tell me you heard it or smelled it or anything like that!" Yukio exclaimed cutting him off. He took a deep breath before continuing. "Rin, don't keep secrets from me. Especially if they are important."

"I told you it's not important." Rin gritted out once again, clenching his fist before thumping his head against the back of the seat. "Ok, look, I get that you're not going to drop this but I don't know how to explain this. I mean, it's easy sorta I guess…but I don't know how…you'll react."

"Is that why you haven't told me anything?"

"Kinda." Rin said with a shrug. "I mean, you already have so much to worry about, I don't want to add anything to it."

"Rin, just tell me what it is."

Rin sighed closing his eyes as he took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes and letting them slide over to look at the silhouette standing before him, arms crossed. "I can see you." He stated simply.

"W-Wha-"

"Not completely." Rin cut him off before he could freak out. "In fact, I can't see anything except living things apparently. I can see you, demons, dogs, other people but I can't see anything else."

"So…you can see me right now? Where I'm standing?"

"Yeah, to an extent. Of course I can't see anything around you so makes it a little difficult at times. Also, I can only see like, the form of you."

"What do you mean?"

"Like, I can see how tall you are and where you are but I can't tell you what your face looks like or outfit. I see an…an outline but no details."

"And, just how do you see?"

"I…" Rin trailed off. He didn't know how his brother would process this; he still had problems processing this at times.

"Rin?"

"I…can see you with the flames."

"What?"

"Like…the flames that I have make up all of your forms, but in different ways so it doesn't get confusing when there is more than one person or thing in the room. Everything is like that except…"

"Except?"

"…Except when I draw the sword. When I did that, I could see everything. I mean, it was all still in the style of blue flames, but I could see everything, even the details on your face or the flowers in Shiemi's garden." Rin was quiet after that, silently telling his brother that that was everything he had to say on that concept.

Yukio seemed to understand because he sighed and moved over to sit in his chair across from Rin. They were quiet for a few second, maybe even minutes, Rin couldn't tell. Then Yukio spoke.

"Why would you keep this from me?"

"I didn't know how you would react and I didn't want you to worry."

"God Rin! Do you know how much this explains for me? This was actually something important!"

"Sorry." Ring grumbled, looking down at the darkness that would be the floor.

"But, this takes away some of my worry actually." Rin looked at his brother in surprise. "I mean, at least you can avoid people, animals, and demons even if you can't avoid objects and walls. It's a little comforting. Also, it explains why your eyes glow the way they do."

"They glow?" Rin asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but not much. It's probably because your flames are acting as your sight to an extent." He was silent before suddenly asking hesitantly. "Do…Do the flames ever change for a person? Like, different from personality wise I mean."

Rin was silent, wondering how to answer this. "…They…They do. It's like…the healthier you are…the brighter the flames. The weaker you are, like sickly or close to dying, the duller the flames."

"I…see. So, in the hospital-"

"Yeah, I could see the old man's flames."

Yukio gave a small smile. "That's good…that's very good."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a while, neither one knowing what to say nor wanting to break the silence. Finally, it was Rin who spoke.

"Does this mean I don't have to use my cane?"

"No."

"What?! Why?"

"Because you explained you can't see things, meaning you still need the cane to see."

"But-"

"No Rin, you are using the cane."

"Oh come on!"

Suddenly Yukio's phone rang, making Rin jump as Yukio took it out of his pocket. Opening it up, he listened to the mission he was being told before gasping.

"What is it?" Rin asked, tilting his head as he listened to Yukio get his exorcist supplied ready.

"There's a demon in father's hospital, in his room." Yukio answered.

Rin gasped, shooting up to stand before his brother. "Let me come too!"

"Rin, I can't. You're not even an exwire." Yukio said.

"So? He's my old man too!"

"Rin, I can handle this!"

Rin growled before sighing. "I you let me come I'll use my cane for the rest of the week without complaining."

"Rin, that's not an appropriate bargain for this."

"Oh come on you know I'll be fine."

Yukio stared at him for a bit before relenting, sighing at his brother's stubbornness. "Alright, fine you can come." Rin cheered. "However, you have to stick to your promise."

Rin frowned before sighing. "Whatever." With that he reached over to grab his sword and cane which he had placed together. Once he had both he came up to his brother again and followed him through the door when he opened it with a key.

* * *

As they exited the door, Rin couldn't help but notice the number of people gathered in the hospital, no doubt all exorcists here to protect their paladin. He knew that they all saw him and Yukio as they entered and moved out of the way as they made their way through the hallway. Rin could feel the stares on him and his brother, though most were on him. He had no doubt that they were wondering why a blind, inexperienced-to their eyes at least-student came to this mission. It made him a bit irritated and he wanted to hit one of them with the cane. Hey, it seemed it did have a purpose!

His brother also seemed to sense both his irritation and the stare but he only glared at the former, which made Rin scowl. He wasn't really going to hit them, at least not to the extent that it would see on purpose to the other people. Since Yukio knew his secret now, it would be a bit hard to convince him that he just hadn't seen the people.

They continued to move through the hall way of the hospital and the closer they got to Shiro's room, the more Rin could hear the angry shouts from the people and the growls from the demon. That, and something else that sounded like an echo-y voice but he couldn't clearly make out just yet.

Once they were in front of the room, Rin heard Yukio talk to whoever was in charge around here at the moment. He didn't bother listening to their conversation, not even letting his twitching ear pull him in when he heard his name. No, he was focused on the demon that stood in the doorway between his adoptive father and him.

It was large and from what he could tell was like a cat. It had two tails swishing behind it in anger and he thought he could just make out a small dent in the flames that made up its head between its ears that symbolized small horns.

But it wasn't just the form that caught his attention. It was also the voice he could hear coming from the demon, ringing in his mind just as Ukobach's had done.

 **"Stay away from him!"** The demon cried. **"I won't let anyone else hurt him!"**

"It's a cat sidhe." Yukio spoke up appearing beside him. "Kuro is his name. He's dad's familiar."

"Dad's familiar?" Rin gasped, staring at the cat, knowing what it meant thanks to Yukio's study sessions. He caught Yukio nod out of the corner of his eye while replying with a small yes. Then he heard a cock of a gun and that definitely gained his attention.

"Wait! What are you doing?!"

"Taking him out so he doesn't end of hurting anyone, especially dad." Yukio replied.

"Wait! Can't you see he's just upset? If he was dad's familiar, then he's probably just worried about him!"

"Rin, let me deal with this."

"No! I won't let you hurt him when he's just worried." With that he turned back to the demon, Kuro, before giving Yukio his cane. "Hold this."

"Rin-" He was cut off when Rin charged forward which made the cat sidhe hiss at him, but he didn't stop. He continued moving forward until he was in front of the cat and he hit it on the nose, which made everyone freeze.

"What do you think you're doing!? This is a hospital and you could hurt him!"

The cat growled. **"They will just hurt him more! I need to protect Shiro!"**

"Look I get that you care about him. I do too, but this isn't the way to do it! Plus, these people aren't the ones who hurt him! They're taking care of him!"

 **"How can I trust you?!"** The cat sidhe hissed.

Rin shrugged. "Honestly, I can't tell you. But I do know that man over there is my dad and he looked so much worse before he came here he…he was close to death." His voice grew quiet at the end, making everyone freeze.

**"You…you care about him too?"**

"Of course. I mean…he did take care of me for a long time." _'Even before he got processed.'_ But Rin didn't say that last part out loud. It wasn't needed.

**"I-I'm just so worried about him!"**

"I am too, but you have to control yourself. Look, you can stay with me while we wait for the old man to wake up, alright?"

**"Really?"**

"Really." He flashed the cat a grin and suddenly it was running at him. He was prepared to be squashed beneath its weight but was shocked when a much smaller version of the cat was in his arms, sobbing and mewing. He stared down in shock before bringing the cat closer to him. He looked up in the direction he knew Shiro's bed was and smiled at the sight of the flames flickering there.

A hand on his shoulder made him jump. "Gah!"

"You're an idiot Rin." Yukio sighed. Rin just grinned at him.

"This time it was worth it." Rin said, letting one of his hands pet Kuro, getting a small purr in response. "Besides, now my hands are occupied, I can't hold my cane anymore."

Yukio frowned. "I'll let it go just this once, but you still have to keep up the rest of your promise."

"Yeah, Yeah."

Yukio sighed, "I'm going to send you and Kuro back to the dorm while I help take care of things here. However, it appears we will have things to talk about when we get back.

Rin rolled his eyes but followed his brother to a door they could use, ignoring the multitude of flames that surrounded him. With one last look back at his brother, he left through the door to the dorm with Kuro in his arms and Yukio throwing the cane in after him.


	9. Chapter 9

**"Hey, hey Rin?"** Kuro called out as he pawed at his arm making Rin look down at him. The two had been sitting in the dorm room he and Yukio lived in for a while now, waiting for Yukio to come back from the mission Kuro caused. At first, Rin had taken the time to calm Kuro down, but now that he's calmed down, Rin was now searching the ground for his cane, cursing Yukio for throwing it inside.

"Yeah Kuro?" Rin asked continuing to pat the floor for the cane and he was getting frustrated because the room wasn't that big to the cane had to be there somewhere! He would have let it just get lost but he didn't need Yukio nagging his ear off and finding it for him.

**"What are you doing crawling on the floor?"**

"I'm trying to find that stupid stick Yukio threw in here." Rin growled when he smacked his hand against his desk before going back to the floor. "Stupid Yukio."

 **"Why? Can't you see it?"** Rin stopped and sighed, sitting back on his knees. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again and looking at the silhouette that made up Kuro, the bright and happily dancing flames titling its head at him.

"No…I can't. I can only see living things." The cat sidhe was silent before rubbing his head against Rin's arm.

 **"That's ok Rin! I'll help you!"** Kuro exclaimed happily before disappearing from his side. Rin watched his silhouette disappear for a moment, only being able to see flickers of blue occasionally, before he suddenly reappeared. Along with him, there was the sound of something rolling across the floor and hitting his leg.

"Huh?" He reached down and instantly felt the cool metal that made up his blind-man's cane. He smiled and reached one hand out to pet his new friend's head. "Thanks Kuro!" With that he grasped it and stood up. He moved around and folded up the cane, placing it on the table he had lain his sword against.

 **"What does it do?"** Kuro asked when Rin returned to sit on the bed.

"It lets me see where I'm going, like if anything's in my way." Rin said. "But, I don't like using it."

**"Why?"**

Rin shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I find it annoying and in the way even if it helps me get around."

"So you admit it will help you."

Rin and Kuro both yelped at the appearance of his twin brother. "Will you stop appearing like that?! That's like the fifth time today!"

"You should pay attention to your other senses, Nii-san." Yukio said in response.

Rin just huffed in response, pointedly looking away from where his younger brother was standing. He heard Kuro meow a greeting to Yukio and his brother return it, even if he didn't know what was said.

"So Rin," Yukio spoke up. "It appears you forgot to tell me something."

Rin raised a finger and didn't look at his brother. "Technically, you only asked about my eyes, nothing else. If you had asked, I maybe would have told you that I-"

"Can understand demons?" Yukio interrupted. "And when exactly did you discover this ability?"

"Er…when I first cooked with Ukobach." Rin said nervously.

Yukio sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance before taking a deep breath. His brother had so many secrets now and it was getting a little annoying that he wasn't being let in on any of them.

"So let me get this straight, because of your demon blood, not only do the flames you possess adapted for your missing eye sight, but now you can also hear and understand what demons are saying."

"…basically."

"Along with other demon abilities like healing?"

"Yup."

"Anything else?"

"Hmmm..." Rin thought placing his hand on his chin thinking. After a few seconds of this, Rin was about to open his mouth to reply when Yukio spoke up.

"Don't hurt yourself." There was a teasing tone in his voice and Yukio smirked and Rin gasped at him.

"Oi!" Yukio just chuckled at his brother's expense. Rin gave a low growl at him before answering. "No, there's nothing I can think of."

"Alright good."

"Oh, hey Yukio?"

"Ye-" He was cut off by his brother swing his arm out and into his own upper arm. Yukio knew his brother held back on his strength but it still hurt a lot and would surely leave a deep bruise. He grasped the wounded spot and he glared at his brother. "What was that for!?"

"That's for throwing the cane in here without me knowing where it was, idiot!" Rin growled. "Kuro had to help me find the stupid thing!"

"Sorry!" Yukio chuckled nervously at his brother's angry face. "I didn't mean to and I would have found it for you."

"It was under one of the beds!" Rin could only assume that's where it had been, since it seemed like the most logical.

"Alright, alright, I won't do it again." Rin nodded his head with a huff. "So, Kuro helped you?"

Rin blinked at the slight change of subject, tilting his head at his brother as he felt Kuro rub his head on his leg, urging him to pet him again.

"Er…yeah he did."

"Hmm." Yukio observed the two for a moment in thought. The two were obviously already close even if it had only been a short span of time together. "You know, Kuro could become you're eyes for you, similarly to a seeing-eye dog or other animal."

"Really!?" Rin exclaimed, looking down at the cat sidhe in joy.

**"Yeah!"**

"Of course you still have to use the cane." Those words instantly brought down Rin's spirits.

"Why?!"

"Because Kuro may not always be with you, like for your regular school day." Yukio replied. "However, it would be a good thing for missions since Kuro could also act as your familiar and then you won't need the cane on the missions."

He had thought of this and had wondered how his brother would do on missions. The news that he could see living things help comfort Yukio over the fact that his brother would know what to strike but he had worried about the terrain as well as how much of a hindrance the cane could become. Yes Rin had his other senses but they would have to take time to adapt before they could be used well on a battle field. Even if Rin could one day draw his sword around others without worry and be able to see everything as he says, that would be a while in itself. Kuro was welcomed to help his brother out for these things.

"Besides," Yukio continued. "You made a deal with me that you would use the cane for the rest of the week."

"Damn." Rin muttered.

 **"I say yes, Rin."** Kuro spoke up making Rin look at him. **"I think it will be fun! Besides, then we can spend so much time together!"**

"Yeah, I guess so!" Rin replied with a bright smile. "Alright! I agree!"

Yukio smiled at the sight of his brother so happy. Despite everything he's gone through since that night he was attacked, Rin still remained so bright and happy. It was moments like this that helped Yukio know he was doing his job of keeping his brother safe as well as enforce the job. It made him want to make sure his brother remained safe and sound.

"Alright, now that all that is over, why don't we get started on the homework you have for tonight?"

"I only have homework from your stupid class!"

"Exactly."

* * *

The next day, Rin came into cram school with three things: His sword, his cane, and a cat with two tails. He was frowning as he moved the cane back and forth, which only grew deeper when he felt his classmates' eyes on him.

"What?" He snapped angrily. Kuro meowed on his shoulder from where he was sitting and Rin continued moving forward, his cane softly tapping each leg of the desks he passed and Kuro meowed when he reached him seat. Rin then used his cane to find his seat and sat down, letting Kuro go onto the desk while he leaned both his sword and the cane against it.

"You're…using your cane?" Shima asked as he stared at Rin. Suguro was silent beside him as was everyone else.

Rin sighed. "Yeah…I made a deal with Yukio. I have to use it for the rest of the week."

"I'm glad you're using it Rin!" Shiemi exclaimed with a slight clap of her hands. Rin blushed at the praise.

"Er…yeah, sure."

"Who's your cat Rin?" Konekomaru's voice suddenly came from beside him. He could see his shorter silhouette crouching slightly and observing Kuro, who tilted his head at the other student.

"Oh, this is Kuro." Rin said with a smile. "He's like my seeing-eye cat."

"And, he's a cat sidhe?" Suguro asked, surprised that the other was using a demon to help him get around.

"Yeah! He used to be our old man's but since he's hurt right now, Kuro wanted to help me out! We've become friends, right Kuro!?" Rin said with a smile, aimed at the cat sidhe.

A meow greeted his and the other's ears but only Rin could hear the words behind it. **"Of course Rin!"**

"So, is he like your familiar now?" Suguro asked.

"Er…yeah kinda. He'll help me out on missions."

"Um…Rin?" Rin turned to look at Konekomaru who he could hear was shuffling his feet nervously. "Would you mind if I could pet…Kuro?"

Rin stared in shock, surprised the other would ask. He would have thought if he really wanted to, the other would just go ahead and pet Kuro, but he took the time to ask. Rin's face turned into a smile and he nodded.

"Of course! I mean, it's really up to Kuro but I don't see the problem with it." Rin replied.

Konekomaru gasped slightly at the smile he was given from the other teen. He knew that if the cat sidhe was both Rin's familiar and seeing-eye animal he might be a bit protective of him and made sure to ask if he could pet him. He would have asked anyway, but it seemed even more important now. The trust that was in that smile he was given shocked him a little. They've all only known each other for a few weeks so it was a little surprising.

"T-Thank you!" He stuttered out before reaching out to pet Kuro. Kuro tilted his head and sniffed at his hand before leaning into it. Konekomaru had a grin appear on his face at the action, happy the other would allow him to pet him. He scratched behind the cat's ears and moved his hand along his back. He was very gentle as he pet Kuro.

Kuro purred happily and even let Shiemi join in petting him. **"Rin! I like these people! They're your friends, right? They should be, they're really nice!"**

Rin smiled at Kuro's words. He didn't reply to the cat verbally but when he turned to look at him, Rin gave a very slight and unnoticeable nod.

**"That's great! That means I can hang out with them too! I can't talk to them like you can but I can play with them! They're so nice Rin!"**

"So, is Kuro always going to be around?" Konekomaru asked as he continued to pet the cat sidhe. He really liked cats and hoped Kuro would be around in the future.

Suguro scoffed. "He probably will, seeing as how reluctant Rin is to use his cane. Now he has a way out of it."

Rin pouted but decided to ignore Suguro's words in order to answer Konekomaru. "Yeah, he'll be around a lot! Also, from what I can tell, I think he likes you."

A happy meow from Kuro confirmed it and Konekomaru beamed. By the time Yukio arrived in the classroom, almost everyone was surrounding Rin and Shiemi's desk to look and/or pet Kuro.


	10. Chapter 10

“Alright,” Yukio spoke up holding a stack of papers in his hands. “Very soon you’ll be taking the exwire exam, so it’s been decided that you will all take part in a week long boot camp at the abandon dormitories to prepare. For now, you all need to fill out this sheet which will inform us which meister it is that you will be aiming for.” With that he handed out the sheets to everyone except Rin, who had already worked on his last night with his brother. “It will be due on Monday when the boot camp begins and you may use the rest of class to decide.”

He sat quietly in his seat as he ran his fingers through a sleeping Kuro’s fur, listening to the sounds of scribbling around him. It’s been a few days since he had first brought Kuro into cram school and so far there hasn’t been any issues with it. He knew that his classmates sure enjoyed the cat sidhe’s appearance. Lost in thought, Rin ended up jumping when he felt a finger tap his shoulder.

“Sorry!” Shima’s voice reached his ears. “I just wanted to ask you something, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Rin smiled and waved his hand dismissively. “It’s alright. What do you want to ask?”

Shima rubbed the back of his head nervously as he gave an awkward smile to the other. “You see, I was just wondering what you were going to choose as a meister since you’re…er…you know.”

“Shima!” Konekomaru hissed. “That’s rude!”

“Oh! Right, sorry Rin!” Shima chuckled nervously.

“Nah, its fine.” Rin said waving it off. “Yukio helped me out. I’ve decided to be a tamer and a knight.”

“Huh? Really?”

Rin smiled. “Yeah I mean, I already have Kuro so I kind of have the tamer thing covered and I also have a sword, I just need to learn how to fight like this.” He waved his hand at his face. “Plus, both Yukio and I thought those meisters would be the best considering.”

“You know, I’ve always noticed that you carried the sword around with you but I’ve never really seen you use it or take it out of its sheath.” Konekomaru spoke up.

Rin gave a smile. “Er…yeah. My old man gave it to me and I don’t want to let it out of my reach. Even if I can’t use it, I still want it around me.”

“That’s understandable.” Konekomaru said nodding his head before blushing, realizing the other wouldn’t be able to see it, at least to his knowledge.

“What about you guys?” Rin asked with a tilt of his head. With that both Shima and Konekomaru happily told him what they were aiming for as exorcists. By the time that class ended, Shima had returned to his seat beside Suguro and Konekomaru.

Rin watched the silhouette of his brother leave the classroom before a few minutes later a different teacher entered. This one was new, as Rin didn’t recognize the exorcist form or the defensive, hateful flames around him. He shivered a bit at the feeling he got from him, unable to help the feeling of unease when he was around him.

**“Hey Rin,”** Kuro suddenly spoke up as he awoke to the new arrival.  **“That man has an eyepatch!”**

_ ‘Because that makes me feel so much better!’  _ Rin thought sarcastically. While he didn’t know how to communicate to Kuro without speaking out loud, he had no doubt that the cat sidhe could feel his sarcasm from where he sat on his desk in front of him. He felt one of the two tails smack his hand making Rin scowl at the treatment.

“Good evening.” A gruff voice spoke up from the front of the classroom, draw Rin away from his arguments with his familiar at the moment. “I am Mr. Neuhaus. I will be teaching you how to summon a demon, if you’re able to of course. This will help determine if you should aim for a meister in the tamer field. Now, stand up here at the front of the class and move the front few desks towards the back, this will give us more room to learn.”

With that, they all gathered in the front of the classroom. Rin could see the silhouettes of Shiemi and Suguro on either side of him with Kuro taking a spot on his head. For a moment, he felt Neuhaus’ gaze on him which made him shift awkwardly before the feeling was gone. He flinched a bit at the sounds of the desks being moved across the floor, the scretching hurting his overly sensitive ears. He noticed Shiemi made a soft sound of worry in reaction to his flinch but he just offered her a small smile in return, showing nothing was wrong.

“Now, I need all of you to step towards the door in a line and don’t move.” Rin shifted slowly back, waiting for someone to signal to him that he was far enough away. Just as Kuro let out a soft meow from the top of his head, he felt a hand on his back, keeping him from moving any further back. He flicked his eyes towards the direction of the hand, from what he could tell, and thought is was Suguro who had stopped him, but he couldn’t really tell. Either way, he gave a small nod of thanks before turning his attention back to their teacher.

His ears twitched at the sound of scratching on the ground followed with the smell of chalk meeting his nose. He could see Neuhaus’ form moving in an odd way with mainly his arm moving, so he could only assume he was drawing something on the ground.

“Now,” Neuhaus spoke as he stood up and turned around to grab something from his case he placed on the front table, which had also been moved a little. “This is a summoning circle, more specifically one for ghouls. These,” He held up small scraps of papers, each with a smaller and simpler version of the one he had draw on the floor. “Are what you will be using when or if you decide to try and summon a demon.”

He began to hand out the small pieces of paper without ruining the marking on the floor. The entire time, Rin stands there clueless to what is being done. Kuro had relayed a few things for him but there was only so much he could understand through explanation like that. He jumped a bit when he felt a piece of paper being placed in his hand and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

**“That’s the piece of paper I was talking about.”** Kuro piped up. Rin moved his fingers across it, trying to get something to tell him more about it but he didn’t get anything.  **“There’s like a small summoning circle on it.”**

“Now, in order to summon a demon, you have to have the will to do so and the talent. Summoning a demon is nothing I can teach you.” Neuhaus explained giving them all a look. With that, he raised his right hand over the circle and let a few drops of his blood fall on the chalk markings. “Son of Typhoeus and Echidna, head my call.”

Rin flinched at the sound of blood hitting the ground and its metallic scent hitting his nose. He didn’t like the memories they brought up for him and for a moments he could feel the blood of his father figure on his hands again and he shivered for a moment before giving a slight shake of his head. Now was not the time to fall back on those disturbing memories, even if they remained just to haunt him.

He watched as a new silhouette appeared before him, no doubt in the middle of the summoning circle that had been drawn. It was in the form of a dog or wolf but he could also see a few deformities on its body. For a split second it looked like it turned towards him but it otherwise remained motionless where it stood.

“Now, to test if you have that talent, spread a bit of your blood on the paper you have in your hands and say the words you have in mind.”

Everyone was silent for a few moments, glancing down at the paper in their hands. Then, Izumo spoke up. “I humbly call the Gods of Harvest. Follow my wishes, leave none unfulfilled!”

Rin watched in awe as two more demons appeared in the room in the shape of what appeared to be foxes.

“Two fox spirits at once, impressive.” Neuhaus spoke up.

“That’s amazing Izumo!” Paku exclaimed at her friend. “I can’t do it at all.”

“Well, it’s only natural seeing as I’m the daughter of a shrine maiden.” Izumo boasted.

Suguro sighed beside Rin. “Ah, I can’t do it.”

“Me neither.” Konekomaru agreed. The two both looked at Shima who just gave a shrug in agreement with the two.

“I want to try!” Shiemi exclaimed. Rin blinked at turned to look at her form. He could see her head bowed forward, most likely peering at the paper in her hands. “Come out...Come out, please.” She whispered to the paper and then laughed nervously. Rin was about to speak up and encourage her more when he caught sight of the new demon appearing, which also gained everyone else’s attention.

A small demon popped out of the paper and landed in her hands, squeaking up at her. Rin thought he could actually catch a few words in there but he really wasn’t listening.

“It looks like the green man spirit. Nice job, Moriyama.” Neuhaus complimented.

**“Rin, do you think you could summon a demon too?”** Kuro called to Rin, who was now furrowing his eyebrows in thought. He knew there was a chance he could do so, but at the same time, didn’t he already classify as a tamer with Kuro? Of course, he figured he’d ask Yukio about his thoughts on trying to actually summon a demon instead of just making friends with it. As much as he wanted to try, he didn’t know if his status as a half demon would make it more of a chance for him to summon some high level demon.

With a sigh, he resigned himself to not summoning the demon at the moment, deciding to wait for Yukio’s opinion on the subject.

“Now, tamers are rare in the exorcists field mostly because demons do not like to obey beings they consider weaker than themselves. On the contrary, they attack beings who have lost their self confidence, meaning if you should ever lose confidence in your ability to control them, they can take that chance to attack you.” Neuhaus explained. “However, if you feel you are in danger, simply break the circle used to summon them.” With that, he let his foot scrape across the chalk on the ground, effectively destroying the circle and the demon disappeared.

“Today’s class is over.” With that, their teacher left the room. Izumo then simply ripped the papers that had summoned her foxes before walking over to her desk and sitting down, it having been one of the desks they didn’t have to move.

Rin was about to walk forward when he heard Shiemi whisper next to him, “I don’t want to erase you.”

Turning his head, he found her gazing down at the small green man in her hand. Humming thoughtfully, he spoke up.

“You know, I don’t think you have to rip the paper.” This made Shiemi look up at him.

“Huh!? Why?! Really?!” She exclaimed.

Rin shrugged as he let his unfocused blue eyes gaze in her direction. “I mean, if he’s not hurting anyone, why do you need to get rid of him? I have Kuro here without any paper thing or chain or whatever.”

“Well, I mean, you didn’t really summon Kuro.” Shiemi muttered. “And he’s supposed to be helping you around, so I don’t know if that allows me to keep him summoned.”

“So? He’s not going to hurt anyone, so I thinks its fine. Trust me.” He gave her a smile which helped her relax a bit. “By the way, he should get a name if he’s going to be hanging out with us.”

“Oh, uh...how about Nee?” The greenman cheered in agreement.

Rin smiled and went to moved forward only to cry out when the sharp sound of the desks moving back to their spot hit his sensitive ears without warning. At least before, he knew it was happening.

“Shit!” He cried out, throwing his hands over his ears.

“Sorry!” Shima called out to him. “We just figured we should get the desks back in order now that the class is over.”

Rin slowly uncovered his ears and gave a sigh before looking over at Shima’s silhouette. “It’s fine, just a little warning next time.”

“Right.” Came the response with a nervous laugh.

**“Rin, your cane is sitting on the desk a few steps in front of you.”** Kuro spoke up and Rin gave an appreciative nod at the information. Moving forward carefully with his hands slightly out stretched, he made it to the desk with no problems and grabbed his cane, his sword having been on his back the entire time. 

After unfolding the cane, he maneuvered his way to his desk, which had been put back in its original place, and sat down. Once all the desks were back in place, he heard the door open and watched as his brother walked into the room.

“Alright, since that was the last class of the day, you are all free to return to your dorms now, however you all need to pack because you will be arriving at the abandoned dorms tomorrow morning for the bootcamp. It this understood?” Yukio asked once he finished explaining what would be happening tomorrow.

He received affirmative calls and dismissed his class. As they all left, he waited for Rin to make his way over to where he stood. Yukio was very happy that his brother continued to use the cane even though it’s already been a day past the amount of time Rin was supposed to use it for. It probably became part of his routine but Yukio was happy with it so he left it alone. With both Kuro and the cane, he was able to get around very well, which was something that comforted Yukio greatly.

He had been a bit shocked by all the things Rin could now do that was simply because of his demon blood, but he was also thankful for how much they could help him as well. He knew there were some exorcists out there with demon blood, but he really didn’t know many to be able to tell you what they could do. Plus, he doubted their demon blood was as powerful as Rin’s or that any of them had their demon blood adapted to aid in something such as blindness. There might be a few with high demon blood, but as much as he knew, he and Rin were the only children of Satan.

“Hey Yukio?” Rin spoke up as his brother as his brother used a key to get them to their dorm.

“Yes?”

“What do you think about me summoning a demon?” Rin asked, turning to look at his brother with a small tilt of his head, Kuro having already jumped off and onto the ground.

“I think you should avoid doing so for right now, even if we marked you down for a meister as a tamer. Why?”

Rin shrugged, “I was just, during class today I wasn’t sure if it would have been safe for me to do so without getting your opinion on it.”

“Oh, well thank you for trusting me Nii-san.” Yukio said was a soft smile at his brother.

“Whatever.” Rin huffed, looking away to hide his blush. “So, the other’s will be staying with us for a while?”

Yukio nodded. “Yeah, since the training camp will be help here.”

Rin grinned brightly. “Yeah! This means I can cook for more people!”

“You might also have more people watching you so you don’t get hurt.” Yukio said with a smirk.

Rin waved his hand dismissively. “Look on the positive sides, Yukio, not the negative ones. Besides, I know this place like the back of my hand.”

“They don’t know that.” Yukio continued to tease.

“I can’t hear you!” Rin exclaimed as he walked towards the kitchen to make dinner for him and his brother. Yukio just smiled after him before going to their room to work until dinner was ready.


	11. Chapter 11

“So this is where we’re going to be staying for a while, huh?” Shima commented as he and the other’s approached the door to the old dorms. “It’s really big.”

“Which hopefully means I can keep my distance from you.” Izumo spoke up with a huff.

“Aw come on, you don’t really mean that do you?” Shima asked.

“Be quiet Shima.” Suguro spoke up before reaching out to knock on the door. It wasn’t long before it was opened by their teacher who gave them a nod before letting them inside. Closing the door behind them, he spoke.

“It’s good to see you all here. I will show you the floor we will all be staying on and let you choose and set up your rooms.” They all heard him speak, but they were a bit thrown off at the moment by how normal their teacher looked. He was dressed in a white short sleeved button down shirt that was tucked into black pants. While it was still rather neat compared to the rest of them, they were still seeing him without his exorcist coat, which was shocking.

“This way.” They blinked as their teacher raised an eyebrow at them before following him up the stairs to the second level of the dorms. They each took the time to look around the halls and any open doors in an attempt to get use to the place they would be spending a week in.

Yukio stopped as they made it to the top of the stairs and turned to his students. “This will be the floor we will all be staying on so that we can all remain close at hand and I can keep an eye on all of you. You may choose any of the rooms and there can be two people within each room. I will not decide who you will share a room with so if you’d like you can have a room to yourself.” He moved down the hall slightly to the door that sat as the first on from the stairs on the right. “This room is the one that Rin and I share, if you are ever looking for either of us. Aside from this room you may choose any of the rooms on this floor. When you have chosen, please inform me which room it is you are staying in so I may know where to find you.”

He turned and began to head back down the stairs. “I will leave you to decide now.” And with that he was gone down the stairs.

They were left in silence for a bit before Suguro shrugged and took the room beside their teacher’s and fellow classmate’s room. Shima and Konekomaru took the room beside their friend while the girls turned to the left of the stairs and chose rooms over there, Izumo and Paku together while Shiemi was alone. The final, quiet students took a two rooms far from the others on the left side of the stairs, but no one really minded since the two weirded them out too much.

Suguro frowned when he finished unpacking, realizing he had yet to see any sign of Rin anywhere. He knew he came here with his brother and had obviously already picked out a room, but he was a little worried, not that he’d admit it, that his classmate was attempting to navigate through the new and large building. Leaving his room, he knocked on the door to the left of his, hoping he’d hear the annoying monkey’s voice call out but he didn’t hear anything.

“Hey, Bon, what are you doing?” Shima asked as he and Konekomaru stepped out of their room.

“Have you guys seen Okumura yet?” Suguro asked as he turned to look at them.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve seen him anywhere yet.” Konekomaru answered. “He wasn’t even around Mr. Okumura like I’d expect.”

“Great, I can just imagine all the situations that idiot has gotten himself into.” Suguro sighed, running a hand through his hair. “For all we know, he got himself lost in the building somewhere.”

Just then there was a soft sound of something tapping along the floor. Looking over at the sound, they watched as Rin, sword on his back and cane in his hand, made his way down the halls without any worries. If they were honest, it didn’t even seem like he was paying attention to either the soft meows of Kuro or the tapping of his cane; he was completely at ease as he walked through the halls.

“Hey guys!” He calls out to them with a wave of his free hand. “You guys are finally here! It seemed like forever!”

“Hey Rin-“ Shiemi began as she left her room only to be cut off by Suguro.

“What are you doing wondering around a place like this moron?!” Rin blinked in confusion at the exclamation.  

“Er…well, I kinda already know my way around so I don’t see the issue here.” Rin said with a wave of his hand around the place. “I mean, I do live here, so  it would make since that I know my way around especially if it’s practically been a month or so since I’ve been here.”

“WHAT!?” Screams came from all around him making him jump and wince at the cries.

“Since when have you lived here?!” Suguro exclaimed, moving forward to grasp the shorter teen’s shoulders.

“Er… as I said, since the beginning of the school year pretty much.” Rin replied. “Did Yukio and I really not ever mention we were living here? Huh…I thought we would have…or Yukio would have at least.”

“No, that was never mentioned.” Konekomaru spoke up trying to calm his friend down before he did something stupid that would get him in trouble with their teacher.

“Huh…well now you know!” Rin responded with a grin. “So, would you like to be shown around? I’m sure I could give a basic description…”

They all stared at Rin as he started to babble on about the dorms and what he could show them, a bright smile on his face the entire time he was speaking. They really didn’t know how to absorb this yet but they were saved by their shortest companion speaking up once again.

“Why are you guys living here, if you don’t mind me asking?” Konekomaru spoke up once again, cutting off Rin’s rant.

Rin fell silent at those words, wondering how to answer them since he obviously couldn’t explain to them the main and actual reason behind their staying there.

“Well,” He started. “I guess it’s just easier. I don’t have to worry about adapting to too much noise or running into people,” Even if that second part was a lie. “It’s easier to adjust without there being too many people.” He shrugged at that.

“…Adjust?” The mutter came from Suguro. From what he was hearing, it sounded as though Rin had been recently blinded, or at least an amount less than a year or so. But that couldn’t be, right? It’s true they don’t know how long Rin has been blind and they really don’t have the right to know, but his curiosity was peaked.

Rin caught what he had just said and scrambled for a way to distract the other. He can’t believe that he just let that slip, and while it wasn’t that important of information unlike his other secrets, he still didn’t feel comfortable with them figuring out just how recently his disability had come about. He shifted through multiple thoughts before one came to him and while he would regret it sooner rather than later, it needed to be done if he was going to derail them.

“Er…besides, I get the chance to cook when I’m here! I doubt that I’d have the chance in a dorm with other people.”

That comment instantly shot through everyone else’s minds. Cook? As in, being in a kitchen with fire and knives? While being unable to see where he was going?!

“What!?”

“Rin! Don’t hurt yourself!”

“Is that even safe?!”

“Why would your brother even let you think of doing such a thing?!”

“And here I thought you couldn’t get any stupider.”

“Hey! Hey, calm down!” Rin exclaimed, backing away from his fellow exorcists-in-training and gave a nervous smile. “Look, nothing is wrong with me wanting to cook! Also, don’t yell at Yukio because he was strongly against me cooking as well!”

“How is there nothing wrong with you cooking!?” Suguro exclaimed. “You could get hurt, idiot!”

“Alright here, I’ll prove I can cook in...uh...what time is it?” He trailed off embarrassedly.

“10:45.” Shima answered for him.

“Er...thanks. Anyway I’ll prove it to you in about an hour when lunch comes around and I’ll further prove it at dinner! Deal?”

“What!? I’m not going to make you do that! You’ll probably hurt yourself!”

Rin frowned. “Didn’t stop you before during gym.” Rin pointed out, making Suguro flush in embarrassment. “Besides, even if I’m not doing it to prove anything to you, I’m still going to do it.” A happy yet sad smile appeared on his face as he drifted off into his memories. “I always enjoy cooking. I was always told it was the one thing I was good at.” It was quiet again, as no one knew how to respond to the information just given to them.

“Rin…” Shiemi whispered, moving forward in an attempt to comfort her friend who just looked so sad at the thought of his memories with Yukio and Shiro, yet the idea of cooking in them was what kept the smile on his face. Even if they didn’t know the reasons behind the mixed emotions on his face, they knew they shouldn’t let him dwell in memories that make him create such a heart stopping emotion.

Shiemi moved forward and placed her hand on his shoulder and Rin jerked at the touch, his head shooting up to look at her. Shiemi felt tears in her eyes as she looked into the foggy ones of her friend’s. For a moment, Rin looked lost as he stared in her direction, seemingly unable to put together that she had spoken before and was now the one who was touching his shoulder. Behind her, everyone else was quiet, the only way Rin would be able to tell they were still there, to them at least, is through their soft breathing.

Biting her lip, Shiemi gave a gentle squeeze to Rin’s shoulder and spoke again. “Rin? Are you alright?”

Again, he stared at her in confusion before he blinked and his eyes widened. With a cough, Rin turned away from her, making sure he could see none of their silhouettes in his eyes. At the moment, he just wanted to see the darkness that would make up his vision if he wasn’t a half-demon.

“...R-Right, sorry about that, I just...really like cooking.” Rin coughed again. “A-Anyway, about my first suggestion? How would you like a tour of the place? I might not do a really good job of it, but I can give you the basics, right?” He had turned back to them now with a smile gracing his features, as if the moment before never happened.

“S-Sure.” Konekomaru spoke up once again trying to keep the peace. Rin smiled at that and turned around, tapping his his cane as he began moving.

“Alright then, follow me!” Rin listened to their hesitant footsteps behind him, but he ignored their reactions so that he himself wouldn’t have to bring it up.

 **“Rin? Are you alright?”** Kuro’s voice rang in his mind and Rin shot him a smile in return, expressing without speaking that he was fine. Though he couldn’t see the cat sidhe’s expression, he could only guess there was an expression of doubt on his face. Not wanting to deal with it at the moment, he ignored the feelings of worry his familiar gave off as he continued to lead everyone through the hallways.

He continued to show them around until he heard Yukio call up to him, informing him it was lunch time. A grin brightened Rin’s face and he moved rather quickly down the stairs and into the kitchen. He listened to everyone taking a seat at the tables in the dorm’s dining hall outside of the kitchen, all except one.

Raising an eyebrow, Rin turned to see the silhouette he’s come to know as Suguro’s and asked, “Yes?”

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Suguro asked, clearly not trusting Rin’s word on the fact he could cook without any issues.

“Yeah, why? Worried about me?” Rin teased with a grin.

“Well yeah, you’re my friend and you shouldn’t hurt yourself.” Rin paused at that before sighing.

“Look, as I said, I’ll be fine. Now, thank you for admitting I’m your friend. Does this mean I can call you Bon now?”

“No!” Suguro exclaimed, a blush on his face.

Rin huffed. “Such a mean rooster.”

“I’m not a rooster you monkey!”

“I disagree!” Rin called back before moving forward to shove at his chest and pushing him, lightly because of both his strength and because he didn’t know if Suguro was in the doorway or not. “Now out!”

Suguro helped guide himself to the door of the kitchen as a way of humoring Rin, but frowned when the door was slammed in his face once he was outside of the kitchen.

“Suguro,” His teacher’s voice spoke up making him look over to the table they were all at. “Leave Rin alone, he’ll be fine. If he hadn’t already proven to me he could cook in the kitchen then he wouldn’t be in there now. Now, come sit down.”

Suguro complied and joined the others in waiting for their lunch. It wasn’t long before a delicious smell drifted through the air making all of their mouth’s water. For a few moments, none of them remembered exactly who was making the food only that they couldn’t wait to taste the meal. However, when the door opened and Rin stuck his head out of the door, they remembered just who made the meal.

“Oi, Yukio,” Rin called out. “Help me bring the food out!”

“Alright.” Yukio complied as he got up and entered the kitchen. Soon he was coming out with his arms full with plates and Rin trailing behind him with a plate in his free hand while his was cane in the other. Even Kuro was helping bring out a few plates.

Once their lunch was laid out in front of all of them, they each gave their thanks before digging in. The reaction was instant.

“Wow!”

“This is amazing!”

“Can I have more of this?!”

“You really made this?!”

“Please tell me you’re going to be cooking this entire week!”

Rin blushed under the praise, not use to anyone other than family eating his food and complimenting him. He gave a smile to them and returned their praise with a, “Thank you. I mean, I had some help but yeah, I made it.”

“Who helped you make it?” Shiemi asked, wanting to thank them as well.

Rin grinned. “Another familiar. He’s not mine but we’ve come to an agreement. Besides, if it wasn’t or Ukobach, Yukio probably wouldn’t let me cook as much as I am, despite how much he loves my cooking.”

Yukio remained silent at that, but Rin knew he was probably correct. Everyone else was silent for a few minutes before Suguro scoffed.

“At least there’s someone protecting you from burning yourself.”

“Hey!”

“I have to thank Ukobach as well.” Shiemi pipped up, making Rin blink in her direction before shrugging.

“Sure.” He stood up and maneuvered his way to the kitchen. Once there, he convinced Ukobach to leave it for a few moments to receive compliments and thanks for his cooking as well. Once that was done, they returned to their meal was were soon able to strike up easy conversation.

Their day continued that way as Yukio decided he wouldn’t inform them about anything and ruin the one day they had off. He did have to leave for a mission at one point and returned around dinner time where he found everyone waiting eagerly for their meal.

After changing out of his exorcist clothing, he joined them at the table and couldn’t help but watched the bright smile on his brother’s face. As of right now, he couldn’t see any downsides of the camp and was happy to see almost all, as he was excluding the two of his students who refused to converse with the others, his students getting along. The thing that made him the happiest was that it seemed that that Rin had made some friends and he could only hope those bonds would strengthen during their time at the camp.


	12. Chapter 12

“And pencils down.” Yukio spoke up and everyone gave out sighs as they placed down their pencils. Rin sighed, happy he didn’t have to see what his paper looked like. Yukio had decided to give them a small test and the things they learned during the last few days before they arrived at the camp. Thankfully, he also said this wouldn’t be counted as a grade. “Wake up at six tomorrow and later in the day we will take a quiz over this test.” Rin let out a groan at that, banging his head on the table.

The first day at the camp was nice since it was considered a day of adjustment. However, after that Yukio wasn’t holding back on teaching them and there was only relief from the short breaks they would get. Rin wasn’t enjoying it especially since now that the others not only knew his secret, but there was also the fact they were in his home so Yukio had all the materials he used to help teach Rin there.

Then again, he preferred this to being taught at the actual school, which Yukio had explained that they would occasionally have to go back to in order to learn a few specific things but were otherwise at the dorm to learn. He at least knew the lay out better here and he didn’t have to deal with the classrooms and teachers. He shivered when he thought of their summoning teacher. He remembered when the other had taught them, the way his eyes would continually gaze at him intensely. The way he watched the flames so full of anger and hurt. Rin gave a small shake of his head as pushed the thoughts away.

“Paku, let’s go take a bath.” Izumo spoke up and Rin turned his head on the table to he could watch as they stood up.

“Um…Is it alright if I join too?” Shiemi spoke up nervously.

“Sure, it-“ Paku began but was cut off by her friend.

“If you don’t mind, can you stay behind?” Izumo asked, her voice hard. “I’d rather you not see me naked.” With that she left the room with one last call that had Paku following after her.

“Hmmm…girls taking a bath?” Shima muttered. “Maybe we should stop by and take a peek?”

“Shima you’re a monk!” Suguro exclaimed.

“Shima, your bad habits are showing.” Konekomaru sighed at his friend.

“May I remind you that there is a teacher in here?” Yukio spoke up make the three boy’s freeze and look over at their teacher. It was quiet for a few seconds before Shima broke it.

“Oh come on,” He smirked as he moved over to his teacher’s side. “I mean, you’re a teen just like us. You don’t have to act.”

Rin would’ve loved to take this chance to tease his brother alongside Shima, but his attention was focused on the silhouette that remained kneeling around the table to his left. He knew Shiemi was upset about being unable to hang out with the other girls. Biting his lip, he shifted over to sit beside her.

“Are you alright?” Rin asked once he settled down beside her.

“Oh!” Shiemi exclaimed, clearly not having noticed Rin moved over to her side. “...um...yes, I’m fine.”

Rin frowned. “No, you’re not.” He sighed, looking down at his lap. “Look, if you want to go take a bath, just do it, they don’t make decisions for you. I don’t even know why you care if they’ll only be mean to you anyway.”

Shiemi shook her head, keeping her gaze on her lap. “No, I shouldn’t. I don’t want to make them upset or anything so I’ll just wait for them to be done or find a different bathroom.”

Rin sighed. Letting his gaze linger on her flickering form he pushed himself up off the floor. He heard Shiemi make a confused noise as he stood up, but he ignored it as he stretched.

“Come on then.” He spoke up, leaning down to pick up his sword and cane, placing the sword over his shoulder and the cane in his right hand. He then motioned with his open hand for Shiemi to follow him. “You can join me with going up to the roof. I was hoping to get some fresh air. I mean you don’t have to follow, but it’s just a suggestion.”

“Oh! Uh...um...sure!” Shiemi stuttered as she stood up quickly. “Uh…”

Rin smiled. “What are you waiting for? Come on!” With that he began to walk out of the room. He heard both Kuro and Shiemi let out a noise of surprise before rushing after him.

They moved through the halls silently for a bit, the only noise being the whistling Rin was making and their footstep. However, they weren’t even at the stairs yet when they heard the screams of their fellow classmates.

Instantly Rin was racing off to their direction with Kuro at his feet. He gave one last shout to Shiemi as he disappeared down the hallway. “Go get Yukio!”

Rin rushed through the halls, thankful that he knew the place so well, before he rushed into the girl’s bathroom. While he couldn’t see the place, what he could see was what his attention should be focused on. He could see the silhouette of a naberius crouched over Paku’s while to his right he could see two fox like creatures jumping towards Izumo. With a shout, both he and Kuro launched at the at the foxes, Rin punching one away while Kuro tackled the other.

“Tear the paper!” Rin shouted at Izumo. He could only assume that was the case because he could recall her summoning such creatures in class. While he did that, he noticed Kuro rushing at the naberius. “Tear the paper!” He shouted again, when he hadn’t heard anything. This time, though, he hear the sound of paper tearing and the two foxes vanished from his sight.

Then he looked at the naberius, not knowing what to do. He couldn’t draw his sword with Izumo in the room. _‘Damn it, Yukio! Where are you?’_

“Rin!” Said half-demon jolted at hearing his name come from Shiemi, who was suddenly beside him.

“Shiemi! Stay back! Take care of Izumo and Paku ok?” With that he rushed into battle, trying not to look at the slowly fading flames that were around Paku as she laid on the ground.

With a growl he dashed and tried to hit the naberius with his still encased sword, only to push it slightly away. Kuro came to back him up but before he could, the naberius reached out and gripped Rin’s head, making him cry out at the harsh movement. The demon through Rin through some glass, he guessed the ones that lead to the showers, before Kuro jumped at the demon, is large size slightly larger than the demon, but the creature was able to get around the cat sidhe and pounce on him as he was getting up.

Rin choked at the sudden pressure on his throat, looking up to find the form of the naberius crouched over him, its two heads no doubt peering down at him as he choked in its grasp. He saw Kuro out of the corner of his eye but he also knew Kuro was smart enough not to try and attack the demon without sneaking up on it, unless he wanted to risk harm to Rin that way.

 _“_ Y-Youngm...a-aster…” Rin jolted at the garbled Japanese that was coming from the demon that held him down. He didn’t know demons outside of humanoid one’s could speak a language outside of the demonic one, and right now he was praying it was took garbled and low for the other’s to hear.

 _“_ F-For...give...me.” The demon continued. “Th-isis the...o-or...derof a...certainp er-son.”

 _‘Satan?’_ Rin thought, thinking instantly of the person who had sent demons after him before. However, he didn’t get to dwell on it as three shots rang out and the demon jolted off of him. Kuro gave to the chase of the demon as it attempted to get away, while Rin sat up, coughing and rubbing his neck.

“Nii-san.” He looked up through his bangs to see Yukio kneeling beside him, is hand on his shoulder.

Rin shook his head. “Lo-ok...at the others...first.” He coughed out, still rubbing his neck, waiting for his healing to kick in to get rid of the bruises and pain. While he sat there, trying to gain back all the air he lost, his mind couldn’t help but stray to what the demon had said.

Yukio took one last look at his brother in worry before quickly moving over to his students, his other students having followed him when they heard the trouble. He knelt beside Shiemi, who had taken to caring for Paku at the time.

“You’re first aid was right.” He spoke, looking over the unconscious girl. “If you hadn’t been here, who knows what would have happened.”

Shiemi was silent at that but a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. Suddenly, there was a soft sound of movement and they looked down to see Paku’s eyes open just slightly.

“Paku!” Shiemi gasped.

“Thank you...for...saving me...Moriyama.” Paku thanked before letting her eyes fall closed once again.

Rin slowly stood up from his spot on the ground, looking over at the group of his classmates. He smiled when he saw the flames regaining their glow around Paku before his smiled dropped. His sharp ears picked up the sound of soft crying, no doubt unnoticeable to everyone else. He moved slowly in that direction, looking around until he saw it.

Behind one of the locker walls, he found Izumo’s figure curled into a tight ball and the soft sound coming from her.

“Hey?” He called out quietly to her, not wanting to draw anyone else’s attention. “You alright?”

“Don’t look at me!” Izumo shouted, not even letting her mind process who she had just said that too. Rin flinched a little at her harsh voice, but his frown grew deeper when he heard a soft drip of no doubt a tear on the ground of the bathroom.

“I hate myself…” Izumo spoke up, and Rin remained silent to let her talk. “I-I don’t want anyone to see me like this...and...and I couldn’t do anything! I couldn’t help my only friend!” Her sobs grew a bit louder, but still not enough to grab another’s attention. “She...She hates me…” Her words fell off at the end as she lost her ability to talk in her cries.

Rin sighed sadly, trying to think of a way to help. He wanted to tell her something, anything, but he didn’t know what. He took another look at her silhouette, trying to see if there was something he could see from that.

Izumo looked up when she heard shuffling and watched as Rin held out his shirt to her, his unfocused yet bright blue eyes seemingly both staring at her and through her.

“Here,” He said. “You can borrow this and sneak out of here if you need to.”

Izumo figured he couldn’t tell she was in her underwear at the moment, but the gesture was still nice. Reaching out, she grasped the fabric and pulled it over her head before sneaking out of the bathroom.

Rin listened to her leave and sighed, happy he hid his tail in his pants today. He didn’t really know if she needed the shirt or not, only guessing from the slightly slimmer figure of the silhouette that made up her form, but he also figured that since she came to take a bath, there was a good chance she wasn’t completely covered.

“Nii-san.” Rin blinked and looked up to find Yukio standing before him with his hand stretched out. Looking down at it, he figured that his cane, which he had flung to the side when he came to help, was sitting within it.

“Thanks.” Rin said as he took the cane, showing his guess was right, from his brother.

“How is your neck?” Yukio asked, looking for any lasting damages. The bruises were already gone and talking didn’t seem like a task for his brother.

“Fine now, I’m already healed.” Rin replied “How’s Paku?”

“She’ll be alright, she just needs a lot of rest at the moment. I had Suguro and Shima help bring her to her room at the moment since everything else was alright but I do need to go check on her. Will you be alright?”

“I’ll be fine.” Rin replied. “Go help out everyone else.”

Yukio seemed to hesitate before nodding and leaving.

Rin took a deep breath before reaching out his cane and finding his way to the door, avoiding the mess made by the battle. Once outside of the room, he leaned against one of the walls and just stared off into the void that made up his world, thinking about what the naberius had said to him.

Was Satan already after his again? What is that Astaroth guy again? Or...was this something else? Why had the demon felt the need to apologize for attacking him? It made no sense.

Pushing off of the wall, Rin decided to see if he could find Kuro and, possibly, the demon.


	13. Chapter 13

"So it got away?" Rin asked tilting his head when he found Kuro's glow in the blackness.

"Yes, I'm sorry Rin." Kuro replied, looking down. Rin shook his head.

"Nah, it's fine. You did what you could." Rin replied, waving his hand in dismissal. "Thanks for helping me out back there, though!"

"Of course Rin!"

"Come on, let's go find out how the others are doing." Rin said, turning around to head back in the direction he had come from. He gave a slight laugh when Kuro jumped up to sit on his shoulders but he continued maneuvering his way to the hallway that held all their rooms, his face losing his smile when he thought about Paku.

Her silhouette had gotten so dim and Izumo had been so distraught over it. He didn't want to see any of his new found friends hurt. The fact that someone had gone so out of their way to harm them made him question who it could be and why.

Kuro meowed, breaking him out of him thoughts. He blinked and shuffled his cane and feet around as he figured out just where he was in the building. Usually he had no problems but zoning out suddenly during his walk sometimes causes him problems.

However, he was saved when he heard a door open and watched a silhouette he's grown familiar with walk out.

"Yukio!" he called out, moving forward to stand before the taller twin.

"Rin," Yukio sighed, a small relieved smile flitting across his face now that he knew his brother was safe. "How are you?"

"Fine, you know that." Rin scoffed but then he grew quiet as he asked. "How's...How's Paku? And the others?"

Yukio sighed. "Besides Paku, everyone else is fine, a little shaken up from the attack though. I told them all to go to get some rest. As for Paku, I'm very thankful Shiemi was there. Any longer she may not have made it. As of now, she has a fever but it should go away with a few days of rest."

Rin nodded in response, his thoughts wandering back to his previous thoughts of who could have attacked them and why, and to such extremes as well. He shook his head slightly in disgust.

"Rin." Rin blinked and looked at his brother's figure. "Let's go into our room, I need to ask you something."

Rin nodded and followed his brother, entering their room and sitting on his bed as Yukio closed the door. Rin rested his sword and cane besides him on the bed and watched as Yukio sat across from him. It was silent for a few moments before Rin broke it.

"Kuro said...that the demon got away."

Yukio hummed in response. He gave a sigh before looking at Rin. "Nii-san, did...did the demon say anything to you?"

Rin was quiet as he thought about what the creature had said, noting that it didn't give much to go on but it was still something.

"First of all, I think it was able to speak Japanese."

"Then it must have been a high level demon." Yukio replied. "It's rare for a demon outside of humanoid ones to speak a human language, but it is not unheard of for high level naberius. What did it say?"

Rin was silent, swallowing thickly before he spoke. "...It called me 'young master' and apologized for attacking me." He shivered a bit at being associated with being the prince of demons. "Then...Then it told me that a 'certain person' ordered it to attack. That's all I got from it."

"And you weren't able to follow it?"

"No, Kuro lost it before he could find out who sent it."

Yukio nodded before sighing. "Honestly, that isn't much to go on to figure out who did this."

"I know." Rin grumbled back, falling on his bed and closing his eyes. Sleep seemed really good right now. Groaning, he pushed himself up and began to get dressed for bed, not bothering with leaving since when he was first blinded Yukio had helped him out a bit, before moving his cane and sword then finally crawling under the covers and into bed.

"Night, Yukio." Rin yawned before closing his eyes.

"Good night, Nii-san."

* * *

Izumo made her way quietly down the stairs, still a little shaken after her nightmare, but she wouldn't let anyone see that. She grabbed the shirt Rin gave her as she left, figuring that if she ran into him before he went to the kitchen to make breakfast she could give him the shirt.

Hearing water running down the steps, she looked and saw Rin brushing his teeth at a sink down there, with Kuro sitting on the ledge of the window next to his wash cup; his cane and sword resting against the wall besides him.

Kuro meowed a greeting while Rin's ears twitched at her footsteps, a muffled 'good morning' passing his lips and toothbrush.

"Good Morning." She returned as she came up beside him. Looking out of the corner of her eye, she saw him sneak a glance at her before letting his foggy gaze continue to look outward.

"Look," She began, seeing his ear twitch once more as she spoke. "Don't tell anyone I cried yesterday, alright?"

"Who would I have to tell?" Rin asked after he washed out his mouth.

"Just don't tell anyone!" Izumo exclaimed, flushing slightly. Rin just held his hands up in surrender.

"Oh shut up, I won't tell anyone." Rin sighed, reaching down to grab his things.

Izumo watched him before sighing. "Here."

"Hmm?" Rin turned towards her as she held out his shirt. He raised an eyebrow at her, not understanding what it was he was being given since all he saw was her silhouette and her hands clenched around darkness.

"It's...ah...you're shirt." She replied awkwardly as she reached out to place it in Rin's hand when he lifted one up. "Thanks, by the way. If...If you hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened to Paku and I. So...thanks."

It was silent before Rin grinned. "You washed my shirt! Thanks!"

"Huh!?"

"I knew you were a good person after all!" Rin smiled, giving her a bright grin.

"What?! No I just washed it because it smelled! That's all!" Izumo denied, looking away from him.

Rin continued to smile. "Sure, but hey," He saw her look at him with a questioning noise. "Yukio passed by earlier, going to go check on Paku. You should go, I'm sure you'd both like to see each other right?" He flashed her one last grin before calling out, "Come on Kuro, let's go make some breakfast!"

Kuro gave a happy call in response and the two turned and began to walk down the stairs, leaving Izumo staring in their wake.

* * *

Rin was lost in thought again as he walked through the halls, breakfast now over. Kuro padded along beside him but he paid no mind to him. He could feel the way his feet moved and how they made their way to the stairs and hear the soft tapping of his cane, but that was it. His body was unconsciously leading him to a place while his mind thought about other things.

His mind, just like last night, was trailing over the thought of who could have attacked them, who would go through so much to simply attack students, even just him. He knew demons were seeking him out, he remembered Shiro informing him of that. He also knew that Satan was after him, and, while he originally thought it was him, he couldn't help but rethink it now.

He can't see why Satan would take the time to attack his fellow classmates. If anything, he would attack him directly or as close as directly as he could. Not only that, but he can't see why Satan would want him dead. Hurt or unable to fight, sure, but not dead. At least, not according to the first attack.

With Satan out, he now had to try and figure out who, but no one came to mind and it was frustrating that he couldn't figure out who endangered his friend's lives.

He let out a sigh, closing his eyes as he tried to get rid of some of the stress from the thoughts.

"Rin!"

"Gah!" Rin cried out as the sudden shout shocked him out of his thoughts and caused him to stumble on the stairs. He quickly fought to keep his balance and once he regained it he was met with the silhouette of Shiemi standing at the top of the stairs with something in her hands.

"Ah sorry!" Shiemi cried out, moving to go down to him, but Rin waved his hand at her and walked up to her, seeing as she seemed to be going up the stairs as well.

"What are you doing?" He asked, tilting his head at her as she began to go up the stairs alongside Rin.

"Oh, I was just taking up the sheets to be dried on the roof!" Shiemi said with a smile. They stopped at the door to the roof and Shiemi was about to shuffle around the basket in her arms when Rin reached forward and opened the door for her. "Oh! Thank you!"

Rin followed her out onto the roof. "I can help you if you'd like."

"Are you sure Rin?" Shiemi asked nervously, glancing at the pipes she was going to use to hang the sheet up on.

"Sure it's not a problem. We just have to work together on this." He cast a smile at her which she laughed nervously at before agreeing. After much struggle and direction from Shiemi, they were able to place the sheets up and Rin stood back as Shiemi straightened them out, wanting to help but not wanting to risk pulling the sheet off the bar.

"Hey, why are you doing this anyway?"

"Hmm?" Shiemi looked over at him and shrugged. "I just wanted to be of some use too, so I decided to do things I'm good at. I mean, you're all working hard to become exorcists, it's only right I help out as well."

"I see." Rin said a frown growing on his lips. "So...you don't want to be an exorcist anymore?"

Shiemi was quiet for a moment as she pinned one of the sheets with clothes pins.

"I don't know…" She trailed off at the end. "...so, for now I'll just do what I'm good at."

Rin continued to gave at her, before giving a nod in response.

* * *

Suguro scowled as the teacher talked during their class at the actual cram school. He heard her talking about fatal versus and usually he would be paying attention, but he couldn't help but glance at Rin, who was focusing on running his fingers over the braille textbook in front of him. Now, he's gotten use to this in class, especially when Rin is actually trying to follow along, however it wasn't his focusing that he was paying attention to.

It was the fact he had no bruises on his neck when there should be.

He had entered the bathroom when Rin was being pinned down by the naberius. He had seen how he was held by his neck in what looked like a tight grip. He knew the grip was enough to make him cough when it was released, and yet...there were no bruises on his neck! He knows Rin was treated after the rest of them and it didn't matter what treatment or ointment he was given for the bruises, he should still have them.

Except he didn't, not even at breakfast!

He heard the teacher call out to Izumo, letting the confusing thoughts leave his mind for a bit. He listened to her stumble on the verse and the teacher call on him to show the class how to read it. He listened as the class ended and accepted the compliments. He even spoke up at Rin and Izumo's comments.

Yet in the back of his mind, he couldn't help but watch Rin more closely than before.

However, the fight ended up getting them in trouble with Yukio so now they were back at the dorm building, wincing as the demon possessed rocks grew heavier on their legs.

"What's with this stone? It keeps getting heavier!" Rin complained.

"It's a low level demon too." Konekomaru gasped out. "It gets heavier while you hold it!"

"You don't even know about possessed stones?" Suguro, who was besides Rin, asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

"Oh shut up!" Rin growled back, instantly defensive towards the seemingly mocking tone. "It was you who had to pick one little fight-"

"It's called collective responsibility." Yukio cut in. "This training camp is for more than studying. It's also to strengthen your bonds with each other."

"I don't want to have bonds with anyone." Izumo huffed out.

"It doesn't matter what you want in this case!" Yukio snapped. "Exorcists do not fight alone!"

This made them grow silent, staring at their teacher.

Yukio looked at all of them. "Support each other's abilities, cover their weaknesses. Everyone fights in a team of at least two. In a real battle, a quarrel in the team can lead to death!" He gave them each one more look over. "Think about that."

Pulling up his sleeve and looking down at the watch there, he spoke once more. "Now, I have to leave on a mission for three hours. Due to the incident with the ghoul, I'll lock every entrance and exit in the building and place strong barriers around it."

"Wait, lock the entrances?" Suguro spoke up. "Then how can we get out?"

"There's no need to get out." Yukio said with a smile. "For the three hours I'm gone, you will all be here getting along and cooling your heads."

"For three hours?" Shima gasped out.

"He's a demon." Konekomaru moaned.

Suguro shook his head. "I can't take it anymore." He looked at Rin. "Are you two really related."

Rin gave a strained smile. "He can be a nice guy, it's just disappeared apparently."

Suguro scoffed, casting a glare at Izumo on the other side of Rin. "Well, we wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for a certain someone."

"Excuse me! You grabbed me by the collar!"

"You started the fight to begin with!"

"Don't fight with me in the middle!" Rin broke in growling at the two of them. Suguro was about to open his mouth once more to shout at her, when the lights went out and they all, with the exception of Rin, gasped in shock.

"Gah!"

They all jumped, causing their stones to fall off of their laps and Rin blinked, looking at where he could still see their silhouettes.

"What happened?" He asked furrowing his eyebrows as he reached for his cane and sword.

"The lights went out." Konekomaru answered him.

"Did your brother turn off the lights?" Suguro asked, looking at Rin.

"Was it a power outage?" Shima asked.

"No," Izumo shook her head. "There are lights still on outside.

"So just this building then?" Rin asked, titling his head.

"Come on, let's go out then." Shima said, standing up.

"Shima, be careful!" Konekomaru called out but the pink haired boy just laughed.

"Things like this always make me excited." He walked up to the door they could make out thankfully to the light from moon outside as well as other lights in the distance. "A real test of courage." With that he pushed open the door...only to close it back up.

"Huh, I guess I haven't slept enough-Wah!" He was interrupted by a large arm lunging through the door and he staggered back to the others on the floor. They all watched as a large two headed naberius came in through the door.

"It's the naberius from yesterday!" Izumo exclaimed as they all stood up, prepared to defend themselves.

"Didn't Mr. Okumura put up the barriers?" Konekomaru cried. He got no response.

Suddenly, the naberius groaned and there was a pop noise as one of it's heads exploded and Rin felt a splattering of a tar like substance on his arms.

"Gah! What is this?!" Rin cried, holding his arms up as he felt the globs of the substance stick to his arms.

"It's miasma!" Izumo shouted back, but none of their eyes left the demon which now had a different head where the other had popped. It growled at them, starting to approach them.

Shiemi stared at the demon, and then her friends. She wouldn't stand by and let them get hurt! Looking down at her familiar cupped in her hands, she spoke. "Ni! Can you give me eely-billy?"

Ni gave a sound of agreement before many large roots burst from its small stomach. The roots pinned the demon to the wall and created a large barrier between the exorcists in training and the naberius.

Complements went her way and Shiemi thanked her familiar. Rin, who could tell that the naberius was blocked off by something since he could now only see little flickers of its body appearing in the darkness, smiled. "You really saved us there, Shiemi! Thank-"

He was cut off by the sound of groanig and flesh tearing from the demon. Trying to look through the darkness, Rin could make out another form appearing besides the demon, but he wasn't positive with all the roots blocking his sight.

"What?"

"The ghoul just freed itself!" Shima informed Rin. "And it's coming for us!"

"Look, ghouls gain strength from the dark, if we can get the power back on-" Suguro broke off in a cough, joined by Shiemi. Soon, it wasn't long before everyone except for Rin and Kuro, who had remained by Rin's side during this, were coughing.

"Huh? What's going on?" Rin asked, listening to all of them and watching their silhouettes flicker with weakness.

"It's because of the ghoul's miasma." Izumo answered, casting Rin a look. "Isn't it bothering you as well?"

Rin froze, already having an idea as to why it wasn't affecting him like the others so instead he looked away and towards the barricade. He knew it wouldn't hold, not with the way Shiemi's flames flickered. Looking at the others, he knew he had to do something otherwise they could end up dead. He heard Kuro meow at him with a question but he ignored it in favor of walking up to the roots running across the room.

"What are you doing?" He heard Suguro ask him when he touched the roots. A smile grew on his face and he looked towards him.

"I'll go out and lure it away, that way you guys have a chance to run if it follows me."

"Huh? What are you talking about? You can't go out there on your own!" Suguro exclaimed but Rin only smiled.

"Don't worry I'm stronger then I look." He said, prepared to jump over the root in front of him. "Besides, I'll have Kuro with me!" With that he jumped over the root.

"Wait! Okumura, you idiot!" Suguro growled as he watched his classmate and familiar jump over the root and vanish into the barrier. He looked down and saw the cane left behind and his worry grew. Not only was Rin hoping to get a demon to chase him, but without his guide stick as well!?

"Idiot!"

* * *

Rin listened to Kuro as the cat sidhe guided him through the maze of roots to the door and the demon. He thought he saw a glimpse of something else in the roots but he couldn't be positive if it was just where holes in the roots gave him a view of his classmates or the demon.

"The door it to your right!" Kuro called out and Rin gave his nod of thanks. He knew leaving his cane behind was risky, but it would be just extra baggage to him if he needed to fight the demon.

Placing his feet on solid ground, Ri looked left and found the top half of the demon tearing away at the darkness, no doubt the barricade.

"Hey!" He called to it, seeing it look in his direction, he continued. "You're after me right? Well then, come on!" With that he dashed out the opening, feeling his feet reach the hall. He remembered what room they were in and decided that he would find his way to the basement where the generator would be to turn on the lights. As he dashed through the halls, he could heard Kuro and the demon following behind him.

He ran as fast as he could and figured he eventually lost the demon when he took a sharp turn down the stairs, now only Kuro following behind him. Eventually they made it to the basement and Kuro helped him find the switches for the generator. However, before he could turn it on, a long, wet tongue wrapped around him and flung him away from the buttons. He let out a grunt as his back collided with the metal railing and opened his eyes to see the demon crouched before him. It jumped towards him but he was saved as Kuro tackled it out of the way. He moved to the buttons again, prepared to make wild guesses, when the tongue returned and as Kuro yanked the demon to the ground, the demon threw Rin off of the platform with the buttons and onto the cement flooring.

Growling as he stood up, Rin reach behind him and grasped the bag that held his sword in it. Tired of the fight, he pulled the sword out and without hesitation unsheathed it and soon his world was colored and filled with blue. He took a moment for his eyes to adjust before settling on the demon just in time to see it jump away from Kuro and land on the platform...besides someone.

"Ah, those blue flames." The person spoke, "That's what I wanted to see."

"You!" Rin growled, staring at Neuhaus, slightly taken aback by being able to finally see the teacher with the intimidating flames.

"I noticed you wouldn't use your powers in front of the others, so I brought you here." Neuhaus explained. "Rin Okumura, son of Satan!"

RIn gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his sword. "How? How did you find out?!"

He smiled and Rin understood. "It was you who caused the attack yesterday!"

"That's right." Neuhaus admitted. "I needed to see if the others knew of your abilities or if you would use them, but you didn't. Not only that, but you've also proven to not be as blind as you claim! You lie like any other filthy demon!"

"Damn you!" Rin growled rushing forwards where the ghoul stood in front of neuhaus. "I won't let you get away with this!" And with that he slammed his sword into the demon, letting his flames wash over it and burn it to ashes.

"I see." Neuhaus muttered, prepared to leave when he was blocked by Kuro, who growled at him before he saw Rin come up behind him.

"I said you won't get away with this." Rin growled. Neuhaus looked at both of them before swiftly reaching into his exorcist jacket and pulling out a small grenade. Quickly pressing the button on it, he threw it in the air and let it explode, the holy water raining down on both the half demon and the cat sidhe.

Rin cried out as the water touched his skin and Kuro quickly ran to try and cover him from the water. During this, Neuhaus took the chance to slip away while Rin was trying to stay on his feet.

His skin itched and in some places even burned. His lips and mouth hurt slightly from where water had gotten in during his cry. But that wasn't what he was focused on. No, what he noticed was that his eyes hurt the most and that his vision faded in and out as his flames weakened due to the holy water, casting him into darkness before flickering to life once more.

"Rin!" Kuro called out, trying to help his friend. The holy water stung the cat sidhe, but the red burns that formed on Rin's skin were twice as hard to look at.

"I'm fine. J-Just...get me to the...generator." Kuro nodded and allowed Rin to lean on his large body. Rin didn't put his sword away, deciding he would use whatever he could to find the light source of power. Looking at the large box, his flickering vision eventually focused enough to find the right switch and he flicked it before sheathing his sword.

And his world was completely dark. Kuro's form flickered in every so often, but otherwise it was dark and Rin shivered at the feeling, fighting back the fear of the last time his vision was like this with flashes of blue. His fist held tighter onto Kuro's fur if only for the reassurance it was there.

Kuro brought them back to the room and Rin slid off of his back, letting a reluctant Kuro shrink back to a smaller size and staggered into the room, only knowing they were all there because of the moments his flames flickered to show them. They were slightly stronger, but he still hurt and itched.

"I...Is everyone alright?" he asked as he entered, leaning heavily on the wall.

"Okumura!" He heard multiple shouts of, and he just gave a weak grin in reply.

Suguro stared at the navy haired teen leaning on the wall with Kuro sitting worriedly at his feet. Burns ran in random spots on his arms and face, most notably being slightly irritated around his eyes. The naberius must have burned him was what most of them were thinking.

"You idiot!" Suguro roared as he came to his feet and moved to stand beside Rin. He looked over his battered body and scowled. "Do you want to die? Why did you think you could take a ghoul on alone."

"You're...just jealous." Rin smirked. "Besides, I had Kuro."

"I don't care! Out of everyone here, you are the last person who should be fighting alone! Now look at you!" Rin tried to give another smile, and another response but in the end, he just swayed even more and Suguro reached out and pulled his arm over his shoulder, supporting him.

"Idiot." He mumbled out.

Just then Yukio walked in and he gave a cry of "Nii-san!" At the sight of Rin.

Rin couldn't focus, he heard Yukio call him, but his body was doing all it could to heal him, so his eyes began to fall and he couldn't really pay attention. With one last blink and flicker, Rin let his eyes fall shut and he felt arms rush to hold him up as he lost consciousness.


	14. Chapter 14

Yukio sighed as he unwrapped another bandage from his brother's still form in the bed. Ever since he walked into the room he left his students in last night for the exwire exam, he had been worried sick about his brother who had passed out with burns along his skin. The doctors has rushed in to help take care of the students, but Yukio personally took care of his brother refusing to let anyone else help so they didn't discover something that wasn't meant to be discovered. He even got a room separate from the one his other students were being kept in for recovery.

He spent most of the night cleaning his brother's skin off, quickly discovering the reasoning behind the burns was not because of the misma, which he would have suspected it wouldn't affect him, but was instead because of holy water which he could tell from the slightly wet skin on his brother's arms. He acted quickly to to try to wipe it all off and clean his brother's skin before rubbing a burn cream on the burns.

Now, he was able to take the bandages off, hoping to see that his brother's healing ability had kicked in enough to clear his brother's skin of the red wounds even if he himself was still unconscious.

"Just what did you get yourself into, Rin?" Yukio asked as he threw away another bandage. Some of the tension from his shoulders left when he saw clear skin covering most his brother's arms and face with only a few more severe burns staying, and Yukio closed his eyes as relief flooded his body.

"Mr. Okumura?" Yukio opened his eyes as both he and Kuro, who was resting beside Rin and has refused to leave his side since, looked over to the doorway of the room.

"Ah, Suguro, how may I help you?" Yukio asked his student.

Suguro looked at Rin from where he was standing in the doorway. "I was...We were all just wondering how he was doing since everyone else was alright."

Yukio gave him a small smile before looking at Rin. "He's alright, despite what it seemed, his injuries weren't that bad, a majority of the burns are gone now. I believe his lack of consciousness at the end was more due to the fact he took on a naberius without any aid besides Kuro."

"Ah…" Suguro simply replied, taking the moment to walk into the room and look down at Rin. Suguro remembered how he looked last night, the burns covering his skin and miasma splattered on his cloths. Now, his skin only held a few small areas of light pink skin, not even being a deep red of the previous burns. His eyes trailed out to his face and he took notice of the slight pink skin around his eyes but that was brushed to the side when Rin's eyebrows suddenly furrowed in his sleep.

"Okumura?" Suguro asked, thinking Rin was waking up. Rin gave no response to his question only to give a slight moan and turn his head to the side. Suguro called out to him again, only to get a similar response, so he reached out and placed his hand on Rin's arm to try to shake him awake, but it didn't work.

At Suguro's touch, Rin jerked away with a cry and tried to curl up in his bed, a growl escaping his throat as his face was covered in a horrified look. Blue lighting seemed to spark around him and Suguro called out to Yukio who had gotten up to throw away the used bandages.

"Mr. Okumura!" Suguro's worried tone, made Yukio turn around quickly and his eyes widened at the sight of Rin.

"Get away from him, Suguro!" Yukio shouted, pushing his student out of the way. This isn't Rin's first nightmare since he's arrived at True Cross, but this was certainly his worst. This was the first time his flames appeared so furiously around his brother in his sleep, as if they were trying to defend him. Thankfully, they weren't very strong yet, and were very unnoticeable but he had no doubt that Suguro had seen them.

"Nii-san!" Yukio called to his brother, who twisted away from his touch when he reached out to grasp his arm lightly. "Nii-san wake up! You're dreaming! Nothing is going to hurt you!" Rin let out a grasping cry.

"S-Stay...a...away from me!" Rin cried in his sleep, his flames growing a little brighter in response before dying down again.

"Mr. Okumura-!"

"Not now Suguro!" Yukio snapped, too worried about his brother and trying to wake him up to deal with the fact that Suguro had no doubt seen Rin's reaction to whatever terror he was seeing in his mind.

"Rin!" Yukio shouted, not caring about the flickers of blue that appeared around his brother every few moments. He let his hand reach out to touch Rin's arm and grasped it in a solid yet unrestrained way. "Nii-san! You need to wake up! It's just a nightmare!" He continued to call to his brother as he tried to wake him up and with a sudden cry, he did.

Rin sat up quickly, his head flying around as he tried to focus his surroundings but it was difficult when he couldn't see anything. He saw a flicker of blue appear in his vision and he flinched, closing his eyes as he recalled him dream. He felt a warmth on his upper arms and a heard a voice calling to him, but his mind kept falling back to his dream, the voice and the warmth twisting into darker versions of them.

"Rin?" Yukio called softly, seeing his brother flinch in his grip when his eyes had trailed over his form and clench closed. He tightened his grip on his brother's arms, trying to comfort him, and he twisted his head to try to see Rin's face beneath his bangs that fell forward from his bowed head. He could feel Suguro's gaze on him and Rin, but he didn't bother with him, Rin needed him right now.

"Rin? Can you hear me?" Rin eye's fluttered before tension disappeared from his shoulders and he gave a floppy nod of his head. "Are you alright?"

A moment of hesitation before Rin gave another nod.

"Mr. Okumura?" Suguro called out once again, watching the scene before him nervously. He didn't know what to do as he stood awkwardly in the background. His mind was full of conflicted thoughts. He wanted to go up and see if Rin was ok. He wanted to ask about what he just saw. He wanted to leave the two of them and go tell the others what happened.

"Suguro, please wait outside for me." Suguro shivered at Yukio's tone. It was so calm and controlled but it still sent a shot of uneasiness down his spine. He gave a nod even though Yukio's back was to him, and he left through the door. Outside, he looked down the hall that would lead him to the room he and all his fellow classmates had been brought to so they could recover from the exam. He wanted to go back there, and yet he also wanted to stay here.

The sound of the door closing broke him out of his thoughts and Suguro turned around to see Yukio standing there.

"Mr. Okumura! What happened?!" Suguro exploded. "It...It looked like there were blue flames around-"

"Suguro," Yukio spoke up in that eerily calm voice. "Let me make one thing clear. You will not tell anyone about what you saw in there."

"What?! But...what if Sat-"

"No." Yukio cut him off harshly. "You will not tell anyone about what you saw. You are smart and I wouldn't be surprised if you can come up with a few conclusions about what you saw in there yourself, however you will not tell anyone about either your thoughts or what you saw. If you have questions, you will not voice them."

Suguro stared in shock at his teacher, speechless from the other's words.

"However," Yukio sighed. "If Rin decides to tell you himself one day, either because he feels he can or because you somehow make him have to tell you, you. Will. Not. Harm him. Understand? I don't know what you're reaction will be but if it is as bad as it could be, the most harm you will do to my brother that day is stop being his friend. I will not allow you to hurt him in any other way. If you do, I will not hesitate to fail you or anything else, depending on the severity of the harm."

"But...what exactly is it that we don't know? Why would I hurt him?" Suguro asked, fearing the answer.

Yukio gave him a cold look. "That is for you to find out, not me to tell you unless I have to. Now, you will not act on anything you have seen. I can't make you forget, but you will do well not to do anything that will go against my warnings. Do we have an understanding?"

Suguro was silent before he looked to the door behind Yukio. Taking a deep breath he looked back to his teacher and nodded. "Yes."

Yukio nodded in reply. "Good, now would you like to see Rin before you head back or would you rather just head back now?"

At first, Suguro thought he was being challenged by his teacher, most likely seeing if he would really leave the events alone. However, then he realized that Yukio was really asking him if he wanted to see how his fellow classmate was doing. Suguro had no doubt that his teacher had noticed the way he would keep a watchful eye on Rin ever since he found out he was blind. Plus, he was the last to be so close to Rin before they were all taken to the medical bay.

"I think...I'll wait a bit. I think you two need the time alone." Suguro answered, noticing the way a grateful smile appeared on Yukio's lips.

"Alright. You can tell the others that Rin will be able to see everyone in a bit, I just want to make sure that everything is alright with him at first."

"Alright, thank you." Suguro said before turning around to go back to the room where everyone else was waiting.

Yukio watched his student walk away before walking back into the room. He closed the door behind him for privacy and sat down on the edge of his brother's bed. Rin had his head bowed still and his eyes were staring numbly at his legs that were beneath the sheet. One of his hands were moving softly through Kuro's fur while the other rested on the bed, unmoving.

"Rin…"

"Is he gone?" Rin asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, don't worry, your secret is still safe." Rin nodded in response, without saying anything.

It was quiet, neither knowing how to break the silence when Yukio decided to be the one to speak.

"Rin...what happened?" He sighed, looking at Rin. When Rin shrugged in reply Yukio glared. "Nii-san, the miasma didn't hurt you. I know that wasn't what burned you! You had holy water on your skin! Rin, tell me who attacked you! Tell me what happened!"

"Stop!" Rin shouted back. "I'll tell you ok! I was going to! I just...I just need a moment to think ok? I'm...I…"

Yukio paused and furrowed his eyebrows. "Rin...does this have something to do with your nightmare?"

Rin was silent, not really sure how to answer that. He still hasn't told Yukio about how he was blinded and how Shiro got in the hospital. The most he knew was that Satan possessed him trying to get to Rin, but nothing else.

Yukio saw Rin's hesitation and frowned. "Don't you trust me Rin?"

"Of course!" Rin shot back, eyes widening at his brother's words.

Yukio's gaze softened and he looked into the softly glowing yet blank eyes of his brother. "Then tell me Rin."

Rin bit his lip before sighing. "I was attacked by Mr. Neuhaus. When I tried to lead the naberius away, he was there waiting. He knew who I was Yukio!" Rin clenched his fists in the blanket in frustration and gritted his teeth.

"What happened next?" Yukio pressed knowing he would need to gently push his brother into talking about what happened if he was going to hear everything.

Rin took a deep breath before continuing. "When he confronted me, I decided to try to keep him from escaping so that he could be caught for sending the demon after Izumo and Paku, but when both Kuro and I surrounded him, he took out something, I guess a holy water grenade, and made it explode so it hit both me and Kuro. He got away during that and Kuro helped me turn the lights on for everyone."

Yukio frowned."I'll deal with Neuhaus later. However, I don't think that's it Rin. What else happened?"

Rin shook his head. "I don't want to think about it ok."

Yukio observed his brother closely and spoke. "This comes into play with your nightmare, doesn't it?" Rin hesitated before nodding his head. "Rin just tell me."

Rin bit his lip before sighing. "It's just...everything was dark...I couldn't see anything...but there...there was sometimes a flash o-of blue...and...and…" His hands went up to his face, covering his eyes as he took shuttering breaths.

"Rin-"

"It was like _that_ night all over again!" Rin exclaimed. "It was dark...and _he_ was _there_...and everything _hurt_! There was laughing...and...and blood...a-and-" His breath sped up and he trembled as his mind went back to that night he was blinded, the night where everything just went wrong. And he couldn't see any silhouettes to ground him with his eyes closed the way the were, so his mind just kept falling and falling into the old memories with nothing to-

"Rin!" Yukio reached out to grasp his brother's hands which were clutching at his hair in a death grip. He pulled them away and tried to get Rin to open his eyes, if only to see Yukio sitting there in front of him.

"Rin! Calm down, it's alright, you're not there!" He may not have been there, but he could tell that the night his powers came out was a very terrifying moment for him, if he was reacting like this. "Rin, can you hear me? If you can, focus on my voice ok?"

Rin's head was dizzy from his terror but he felt the warmth on his hands as began to hear someone calling to him in his fear. He gasped for air and he finally heard Yukio calling to him. Opening his eyes, he caught sight of his brother's silhouette sitting in front of him, holding his hands.

"Yukio?"

"You're alright Rin."

Rin took a few more deep breaths before suddenly looking away from Yukio. "Sorry, that wasn't cool."

Yukio shook his head. "It's fine Rin. Are you alright now?"

Rin blinked a few times and took a few breaths before nodding. "Y-Yeah, I think I'm good now."

Yukio waited for Rin to take a few more breaths before asking. "Do you think you'd be ok leaving the room? I have to go take care of things for the exam you all took and I think it would do you some good to go see the others."

"Wait, exam?" Rin asked, having not been conscious to hear that part. His panic was now gone as he looked at Yukio curiously.

Yukio smiled. "Ah, that's right, you didn't hear that part. Well, I'm sure the others can explain it to you when you see them. Now let me see your arms." Rin lifted his left arm first, letting his brother look over the soft pink that remained of the burns, watching it slowly fade away. Nodding, he checked the other arm and found the same result and with a smile looked at his brother. "Alright, you should go see the others while I go finish up some paper work. They'll be down the hall on the left, I'm sure Kuro can guide you."

With that, Yukio stood up and pulled his brother out of the bed. Pouting, Rin took his cane and sword that was handed to him by Yukio and glared at his brother's silhouette.

"What if I just wanted to sit in here with Kuro?"

Yukio smiled. "That's too bad, because I'm not trusting you alone."

"Yukio! I'll be fine! Kuro's with me, right Kuro?!" He got a meow in reply. "See!"

"Yes, but you have a knack for trouble and you just healed, so I would rather have you in sight of your fellow classmates than with just Kuro, no offence." He smiled at the cat sidhe who seemed to contemplate the response before nodding.

"Gah! Traitor!" Rin shouted. Yukio shook his head at his brother, happy to see him out of his funk, before opening the door and calling to his brother to follow him. He watched Rin walk down the hall in the direction that the other's were staying before taking his own leave.

He left the medical wing of the building and as he was stepping down a flight of stairs, he saw a familiar professor walking past.

"Professor Neuhaus." He called out making the man stop and look in his direction. "May we talk?"

"What do you want?" Neuhaus asked as Yukio descended the stairs.

"Your actions yesterday clearly deviated from the arrangements of the exam." Yukio replied, coming to stand before the other teacher. "So, what are your intentions? True, there were other teachers on watch, but independently putting a student in danger like that, risked the exam itself."

"Also," Yukio continued. "You tried to make Rin Okumura use his powers in front of the other students. Only a select few know about him. Sir Pheles should have briefed you on that."

Neuhaus was silent for a moment before answering. "I acted as ordered by Sir Pheles. Try to kill him, he said."

"What?" Yukio breathed out in shock.

Neuhaus smirked. "Just like you're acting as the break for his powers, I'll be acting as the accelerator for him."

"Was the holy water necessary?" Yukio frowned.

"It was to understand his powers as much as possible."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean what I said." Neuhaus replied. "The demon was examined to see if he would be fit for a weapon of the Order." He looked Yukio over as he scowled. "You little genius of an Exorcist are always so busy. At least share the burden of watching over a demon." He turned to walk away.

Yukio frowned. "My brother is in relatively good control over his powers and emotions, at least for now. Not only that but he is able to do so with a disability. You should have seen that yesterday. You shouldn't underestimate his abilities."

"Ah yes, that so called blindness." Neuhaus hummed, casting a look over his shoulder. "Its astonishing he fought so well with it. Even with it being current, from what I understand. How lucky for him."

"What are you-"

"Come on," Neuhaus said, looking back at Yukio. "It's not like I'd actually kill him. You can relax."

With that, Neuhaus walked away, leaving the younger teacher behind him, staring after him.

* * *

The night was silent. Nothing was disturbed and the figure sleeping in the bed continued to sleep without worry. Footsteps, so very quiet, echoed in the silent hallway. The knob to a door began turning and soon a man entered the room, his form approaching the bed in there. He glared down at the bed before gripping the large and dangerous drafting compass and plunging the needle into the bed, the boy remaining undisturbed.

Eyes widening, Neuhaus reached forward to rip the blanket off the bed and gasped when all he saw was a bundled up cushion beneath the blanket.

"Didn't you say you wouldn't kill his, professor Neuhaus?" Neuhaus scowled at the sound of the gun cocking before smirking.

"Impressive, Yukio Okumura."

* * *

"Rin! Rin, wake up!"

Shiemi shook Rin's sleeping body until he jolted up with a cry of shock. Kuro watched on, staring between the two as he sat on the shelf behind them.

"Shiemi! W-What are you doing here?!" Rin exclaimed, clinging to his pillow. One thing he took note of was that he couldn't feel the comfortable mattress beneath his body, but instead felt hard floor beneath a sheet. Looking around, he caught Shiemi's silhouette kneeling besides him and Kuro up high, showing he was sitting on something tall.

"What's going on?" He asked, tilting his head at her.

Shiemi shook her head as she answered. "I don't know. I was talking with Yuki at my house when he said that something wasn't right. He rushed here and when you wouldn't wake up, he carried you here." She sighed. "He told me that we need to stay-"

She was cut off by the sound of gunshots and both of them gasped in reply. Scrambling out of his bed, Rin didn't bother reaching for his cane that he knew would have been brought with him. Instead, his hands shifted around until he heard Kuro give a sharp call and he turned to the cat sidhe's direction. Placing his hands on the ground, he found his sword and, with a swift movement, picked it up and ran out of the room, ignoring Shiemi's calls after him.

Using his enhanced hearing, he and Kuro rushed up the stairs in the direction of the gunshots.

* * *

Gritting his teeth, Yukio shot at the ghoul hands that came from the blood covered circles on Neuhaus's arms. Yukio chased him up the stairs, determined not to let the man get away from him. When he had been talking to Shiemi about her future as an exorcist if she wanted to continue, he suddenly felt a bad feeling, he felt that something was going to go wrong tonight. He had rushed back to the dorm building as quickly as he could, not bothered by the fact Shiemi had decided to follow him.

She helped him bring Rin, who refused to wake up, down to a different room as well as grab him cane and sword incase he did. Kuro and Shiemi listened to him when he told them to wait for him there and from there he prepared for the attack.

Rushing up through the door to the roof, Yukio glared at Neuhaus. "Why do you want to kill my brother?"

His only response was for more of the hands to come flying at him. He shot as many as he could, but two of them were able to grab him and drag him around. Fumbling with his left hand, Yukio quickly found a holy water grenade on his belt and pressed the activation button. It exploded and Yukio tumbled on the ground to the wall of the stairway.

Looking up, he found Neuhaus standing before a summoning circle.

"You were to slow." Neuhaus said as he picked up his weapon and dug the needle into his arm. Blood spilled onto the circle and soon a large naberius began to form. "This is my strongest naberius." Neuhaus explained as the towering demon appeared.

Yukio rushed forwards to shoot it only to smacked back by the demon. Gritting his teeth, he backed away from the demon and his eyes strayed to the circle for a moment. If he could just destroy the circle.

He shot once more at the demon only for it to retaliate by forming a hand with it's stomach and grabbing him. He was thrown through the air and slammed hard into the stone wall that gated the roof. It began to approach him when a sword sailed through the air and stabbed it in the stomach. Blue flames erupted from the blade, attempting to burn the creature.

"Damn you!" Rin's voice came and both Yukio and Neuhaus looked up to see Rin falling down to pounce on Neuhaus. Blue flames covered his body and his demonic features were shone clearly. His blue eyes were glowing with the flames that allowed him to see the world around him.

Neuhaus quickly reached for his side and pulled out a holy water grenade. Pressing the button, the water exploded around the exorcist and half demon. Rin gave a cry as he flung himself back and away from the water. However, it was no use especially since this time he had been a lot closer to Neuhaus than last time.

Rin hissed as the water burned his skin once more, his vision wavering as the flames sputtered to fight against and burn away the water.

Neuhaus laughed. "I saw how the holy water affected you last time, despite the fact you wear human skin. This time I brought a higher concentration as well."

"Damn it." Rin breathed under his breath. He pushed himself up and tried to stumble his way to Neuhaus when the naberius lashed out and trapped him in its hands, trying to crush his body.

"Gah!"

 **"Rin!"** Kuro called out, pouncing onto the arm that held Rin. With swift scratches, the naberius dropped Rin who fell to the ground below. Kuro came up and stood above him, growling at the naberius.

Suddenly, the naberius vanished and they both looked to see Yukio on the ground, panting and his foot across the now destroyed circle.

Neuhaus tisked and raised his arm. "You erased it!" He growled. He was prepared to send out more demons when a flaming sword found its way to his throat, halting his movements.

Neuhaus turned to glare at Rin, who in turn was glaring at him. Kuro stood behind him, prepared to defend Rin if needed.

"You'll damage your body if you try to summon another demon." Yukio spoke up, taking a few steps towards them. "Do you want to die of blood loss?"

Rin tightened his grip on his blade, his vision slightly better with the sword in his hands, but not completely. He fought off his fear of the sudden complete darkness and asked. "Who are you?"

For a moment, it was quiet. Then, Neuhaus smirked and turned to look at Rin. "I'm a survivor of the Blue Night."

"The Blue Night…" Rin muttered in reply. He remembered what he was told about that event and couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the man.

"For a moment, my body was possessed by Satan. I lost my eye," He said, raising his eyepatch to show the burnt and scarred skin. "And my family who tried to help me. Satan used my own hands to kill them! I'll never forgive Satan, or any of his demons!" He turned to glared at Rin, hatred covering his face. "And definitely not the son of Satan!"

Neuhaus jerked away from the sword at his throat and threw his arm forwards. From a circle on his arm, another naberius hand sprung out and slammed into Rin's side.

 **"Rin!"** Kuro's voice rang from behind him, and he could tells the cat sidhe wanted to charged at the teacher before him. Yukio's voice also rang out beside's Kuro's, but Rin surprised everyone when he titled his head, trying to focus on the moments of light when his flames created his vision to see Neuhaus' face.

"Do you feel better now?" Rin asked, blood dripping from his mouth from when his fangs pierced his lip. Neuhaus jerked the hand out of Rin's side and Yukio let out another gasp that Rin ignored.

Gripping his sword, he reached up and slid the sheath in the red cloth off his shoulder. Taking a deep breath he spoke, "And if that still isn't enough for you, I'll fight you as many times as you want, I'm used to this shit." He gritted his teeth as he sheathed his sword, fighting to not even sway as the extra healing strength from his sword being open was taken away.

"Just please…" He paused before shouting. "Don't drag innocent people into this!"

Neuhaus stared in shock at the teen in front of him, unable to process the fact that the son of Satan was telling him not to harm innocent people. Yet, when he looked up and into the unfocused eyes of the teen, he could see the determination within them. Gritting his teeth, he clutched at his bleeding arm and replied.

"As if you'll get away with this!" He growled, beginning to walk past him. "There will be other's like me. Be prepared." With that he continued to walk past. No one went after him, letting him just continue on his way.

Without looking at Neuhaus, Yukio rushed over to his brother who swayed but caught himself on Kuro, who came up besides him.

"Rin! Are you alright?" Yukio asked, reaching his brother.

"Yeah, I'll be fine in a bit." He coughed. The holy water still hurt, but it wasn't as bad as the first time. Of course, he was still put off by his weakened flames.

Yukio frowned and reached for his brother's shirt, a little put off when he noticed slight smoke coming from it. Lifting the fabric from his brother's blood covered skin, he watched as very soft, almost unnoticeable, flames danced across his skin over the wound. Yukio watched in fascination as the wound healed much faster than the burns along his skin.

"It's almost closed." Yukio breathed out.

Rin smiled. "I usually am a fast healer, huh? Guess I'm mostly demon after all."

Yukio frowned. "Rin-"

"Yuki! Rin!" They heard Shiemi's voice shout. Turning in the direction of the doorway, Yukio watched as she ran towards them. Looking at his brother, he noticed that while Rin hid his tail swiftly, he didn't turn to look at her like he usually did when someone entered. Rin kept his gaze towards the ground.

"Shiemi?" They both called out in confusion.

Shiemi looked at both of them before her eyes widened at the sight of Rin's bloody and burn covered form hanging off of Kuro.

"Rin! What happened?!"

Rin blinked before giving a grin. "What do you mean, Shiemi? I'm fine!"

"No you're not! You have a ghoul wound! It needs to be treated right away!"

"What?! No really I'm fine!"

"No!" Shiemi exclaimed, moving forward to grab Rin who jerked at her sudden touch. His eyes sight was a little better, but it was still mostly black so he didn't see her coming. He didn't fight her as she slowly laid him down on the ground.

"Ni, can you give me some sancho?" Shiemi asked her familiar which let out a squeak and let the plant come out. Soon, she was placing the leaves along his wound on his stomach and was about to do something for the burns but Yukio stopped her.

"Don't worry, those aren't that bad." He said giving her a smile. "Besides, he needs a special cream for his burns."

Shiemi blinked before nodding. "Alright!"

"I'm fine Shiemi." Rin laughed, trying once more for her to let up. Her silence made him pause and give a sound of confusion. Before he could ask, she spoke.

"Rin…" She said. "I've decided."

Both Rin and Yukio paused at that before Rin sat up and tilted his head at her slowly returning silhouette. "What is it?"

Looking at Yukio she nodded, "I'll be an exorcist."


	15. Chapter 15

"Eins, zwei, drei!" Mephisto grinned, eyeing each of the teens in front of him. With a swift clap of his hands and exclaimed, "Congratulations! You all passed and are now exwires!"

The student exorcists before him all brightened at the news. Suguro, Shima, and Rin all let out loud cheers while the other's smiled in joy. Everyone was happy at the news. The day before, when they were all at the infirmary continuing to heal from the exam, they had each expressed their thoughts on the exam, many of them doubting their ability to pass compared to others.

Hearing that they all managed to pass the exam and move forward was something they had all hoped for but doubted would happen.

"Now, I think we should celebrate!" Mephisto cheered, making the new exwires brighten even more, their faces clearly showing their excitement and expectations. "With pancakes!"

Instantly the three loudest boys froze.

"Pancakes?"

"You couldn't have at least chosen a barbeque?"

Rin, Shima, and Suguro sulked in their corner, Mephisto continuing to smile as if he was completely innocent, and everyone else shook their heads at the group of boys.

* * *

"No Rin, you are not cooking!" Yukio tried to explain once again to his brother, keeping his hands on his brother's upper arms to keep him from doing anything. They were at the restaurant where they could eat and make their pancakes, and Rin was very determined to make his own. "This isn't the dorm kitchen, you don't know where everything is!"

"It will be fine Yukio! Stop worrying so much!" Rin sighed, trying to shift out of Yukio's hold to reach forward for the tools to begin cooking, only for a new pair of hands pushing his away from the grill.

"Please Rin, don't hurt yourself." Shiemi pled softly, causing Rin to look in the direction of her silhouette.

"Yeah," Shima spoke up with a laugh. "I mean, as great as your cooking is, don't push yourself."

"But…" Rin trailed off. He could feel all their stares on him, each one telling him not to try and cook. He was about to protest again when another voice interrupted him.

 **"Please Rin? I don't want to see you hurt, and neither does anyone else."** Kuro meowed, rubbing his head against Rin's.

Rin bit his lip. He really wanted to cook, it was one of his joys in life and not being able to because of his blindness hurt. He could care less about the risk of being burned, especially when he knew it would heal up within seconds. Yet, at the same time he could also hear where everyone else was coming from when they didn't know about his abilities. But at the same time, there was a small fear in him that told him that he wouldn't be able to cook again after this single time his disability keeps him from doing so.

Yukio saw his brother's face and sighed. If he had to guess, he would have a pretty good idea as to what was causing his brother to be so reluctant in not being able to cook for once, something that went past his stubbornness.

"Rin," Yukio spoke. "Nothing bad will happen because you can't cook one time, ok? We all just want you to not take any unnecessary risks, ok?"

Continuing to bite his lip, Rin finally nodded and there were multiple sighs of relief from around their table. Yukio and Shiemi let go of his arms and watched as Rin settled back in his seat with a pout on his face. In front of him, Suguro took up the job of creating the pancakes for himself and Rin, everyone else following and pairing up as well.

Suguro, as he started to place the ingredients on the grill, let his eyes wander up to Rin. His eyes trailed over his pouting form and he couldn't help the questions that came to mind. Ever since he saw what happened to Rin the day after the exam, he couldn't help but keep an even more watchful eye on the other teen.

Many questions and assumptions came to his mind over the other. Was Rin really alright? What was that dream about? What was Rin keeping from them that Yukio had to threaten him for? And most importantly-

Were those really blue flames around Rin?

Suguro wanted to pass it off as a trick of the eye, he wanted to believe there had been no sign of those evil blue flames around his friend. He wanted to let the whole moment slip from his mind, but he couldn't. Not only was he worried about his friend's health, but he also knew those flickers of blue fire were not something he imagined.

But that only led to more questions. The only conclusion that he could think of was that Satan was attempting to possess Rin, but he didn't know why that would be. There would have been no reason for the King of Demons to possess Rin at that moment. Then again, when did he need a reason to cause chaos. But the thing that threw that out the window was that, Yukio seemed to know what was happening and how to handle it. He didn't seem surprised at the flames, so was this a regular occurrence?

Was Rin, for some continuous reason, under constant risk of being possessed by Satan? But why?

The only other thing Suguro could think of was that Rin had some kind of connection to Satan or the flames, but the only one that would make sense in the possession. Unless, of course, there was another connection. Perhaps Rin was connected to Satan in blood, but that would mean he would have to be related to him in some way and Suguro couldn't wrap his head around that. Because then, Rin would be related to the worst creature in Gehenna and Rin was no where close to being as evil as that demon.

 _'Unless, he and the bastard are related. But...that can't be, right?'_ Suguro thought, trying to wrap his head around everything and come to some kind of conclusion. He figured, if he ever got the chance, he would talk to Rin about that night, about what he saw, but in some way that Yukio wouldn't skin him alive for. He wasn't stupid enough to ignore his teacher's warnings, so he needed a way around them.

"Oi! Are you going to cook or do I need to take over?" Rin's voice broke him from his thoughts. Blinking, he realized that he had left the ingredients to lay on the grill and shook his head.

"I'm fine, just thinking. You are still not cooking, idiot. You're not going to risk hurting yourself because you're stubborn." Suguro replied, shaking his head when he saw Rin pout at him. "Oh, stop pouting."

Honestly, he couldn't connect the navy-haired teen to anything with Satan.

Rin continued to grumble in his seat, still not liking the fact he couldn't cook. He felt Kuro rub his head against his own and Rin relaxed slightly in response. He let his eyes drift over Suguro's silhouette. The other had been silent and unmoving for a while, and Rin had been curious as to why. The other was probably just overthinking things as usual. But, there was a small feeling of doubt in his chest about that. Perhaps, Suguro did see what had happened yesterday. Yukio had told him that everything was fine, that Suguro hadn't seen anything, but there was a small sliver of doubt in his chest about that.

Shaking his head slightly, Rin resigned himself to waiting for Suguro to finish cooking their meal.

* * *

"I'm sorry about Professor Neuhaus' actions. I didn't think a teacher would get so carried away with emotions." Mephisto said as he sat outside the restaurant with Yukio standing besides him. The teacher had followed him out when he got his brother to settle down inside. Mephisto looked up at Yukio with a small smirk. "I'll prevent further events like these."

Yukio looked down at the other, a deadly gleam in his eyes as he replied. "Please."

"Oi! Yukio! Get back in here! If I'm not going to be allowed to cook, then you have to enjoy other people's company!" Rin teased from inside.

Rolling his eyes at his brother, Yukio turned around and headed back inside. "Very funny Rin. I'm sure similar compromises can be made for you to do your homework and use your cane, right?"

"Oi!"

Mephisto remained outside, a soft smirk on his face as he listened to the students inside the restaurant. Taking out his phone, Mephisto looked down at the number before pushing the call button and bringing the device to his ear.

"It's me." He spoke into the device. "Neuhaus did just as I instructed, but it seems it was too much for him. Come to True Cross right away."

"I can't enter the campus because of your barriers brother." A voice whined from the other side.

"Neuhaus will lead you through." Mephisto replied. "But we'll talk about the details later, understood?"

"Alright." Mephisto was about to reply when cheers from inside the restaurant stole his attention.

"Alright, it looks ready!"

"I can't wait to dig in!"

"What!? Hey, hold on!" Mephisto exclaimed, rushing into the restaurant before they could all eat the food, hanging up his phone as he rushed in.

On the other side of the line, a green haired demon stared down at the phone before looking off into the distance of his home.

"Father and my brothers are so interested in this Rin Okumura. I wonder how strong our brother is." The demon hummed. "Then again, father was still mad at brother for hurting him. Must still be bad since brother is still healing." He sighed. "Should I really help brother with this? If I hurt otouto than father might hurt me as well."

He hummed in thought, debating if it was worth helping Mephisto if Satan got mad in the end. Then again, he did want to see his younger brother for himself. According to their father Astaroth had done something very bad to his brother, but if he was strong, he should just heal from it.

Tilting his head, the demon king asked the red sky before him. "I wonder if he'll help my boredom."

With that his decision was made.

* * *

Yukio pushed open the door and helped guide his brother into the hospital room. They both took a seat near the bed that held their father figure in it. Kuro lept from Rin's shoulders and onto the bed, lightly as to not disturb the many wires that wound their way from the machines to the arms of the older man.

Reaching forward, Rin grasped the hand that rested above the sheets. He let his eyes wonder over the still silhouette, noting that the flames seem so much brighter than they have been in the past visits and he could hear much more steady breaths from the man. If he wanted, he could almost see the way the flames moved, but it was too difficult with the blanket blocking the rest of Shiro's body from his sight. Taking a quick glance at Yukio's own flames, he could tell the two were nearly a match in brightness.

That was good, right? That meant Shiro was getting better, that he might wake up soon. He could only hope that what he was thinking would come true, but it may be too much to ask for. Swallowing thickly at his hopes, Rin gripped the hand tighter in his hand, slowly bringing his other hand up to join in clasping the older one.

"I became an exwire." he spoke, not bothering to look towards his father figure's face. He couldn't see it anyway, so he might as well just stare forwards into the blackness highlighted by the flames of Shiro's figure. "I'm one step closer to becoming an exorcist, just like Yukio."

"But he still has a long way to go." Yukio smiled. Unlike his brother, he could see Shiro's face. He could see that there was more color in his skin than before and his face seemed a little more at peace. He could see the steady breaths that came from Shiro's chest easily even through the blanket. His own hands rested on the older man's arm, squeezing gently in a caring fashion.

Rin smiled at his brother's comment. "Just you wait, I'll catch up to you in no time. Maybe even surpass you!"

Yukio smiled. "Good luck with that. At the speed you're going, the only saving grace is that your blindness is new. I bet if you weren't getting my help it would be just by a miracle that you passed the exam."

"Hey! I did just fine! I even fought with only Kuro by my side." Rin huffed. The air in the room wasn't as suffocating as before now. Their little banters were helping thin that tension and even Kuro couldn't help but be grateful.

Rin sighed. "You better wake up soon, old man, 'cause you sure are taking your sweet time in doing so."

Suddenly, a chuckle filled the air which was joined by Yukio gasping and Kuro shooting up. Even if Rin couldn't see him, couldn't see the way his eyes flickered open and gazed at each of them with a shining gaze, he could hear him at least.

So his breath froze in his chest when he heard the words that broke the air next.

"I can't help it." The raspy voice spoke with amusement along side the airy chuckle. "But, I think I'm allowed to...take my time...with this kind of thing."

After swallowing thickly a few times and listening to both Yukio and Kuro scramble to say their own greetings, Rin finally choked out.

"Daddy?"


	16. Chapter 16

When Shiro opened his eyes, he smiled at the sight of Yukio staring at him with wide eyes and Kuro moving closer to him on the bed. He watched Yukio shoot up from his chair and lean over him, rambling and fussing over him. Shiro chuckled at the millions of questions from his boy and he knew Kuro was no doubt contributing in some way to the questions from the many meows he let out.

"Daddy?"

Those soft words made them all quiet. Even if they had been barely heard above Yukio's chatter and Kuro's meows, they rang out like an echo. They all turned, ever so slowly, to look at the teen at the end of the bed. None of them spoke a word and the air was silent save for their breathing and the beeping of the machines. When each of their eyes laid on the navy-haired teen, their hearts broke.

Rin was staring at the sheets still, having not even taken the moment to look in Shiro's direction. His blue eyes were wide and the glow that usually made up around his foggy eyes seemed brighter than normal. It was only seconds later did they realize why though. Tears sat in his blue eyes looking as though they want to fall over, but were unable to fall just yet.

Shiro watched as Rin's eyes slid over in his direction and he swallowed thickly when his own eyes fell on those unfocused ones. For a second, he thought they focused on them but that was ruined the moment a tear slipped from one of his eyes. Shiro went to open his mouth, to call out to his broken boy, but Rin beat him to it.

"...Daddy?"

The words were choked out and Rin started reaching forward and he stood up. Shiro tried to sit up so he could greet his child only to let out a grunt from the pressure on his chest. Yukio instantly reached out to keep him down, only to pull away to help his brother a second later when Rin tripped over Yukio's chair. He even heard Kuro cry out at Rin's stumbled and he couldn't help the small twitch of his lips at the sight of the two so protective over Rin.

He reached his arms up when Yukio helped Rin steady next to his bed before lowering him into his chair. Rin reached out again and Shiro slowly raised his hand to grasp Rin's. Rin choked up even further at his touch, actually it seemed to begin the moment he moved, and bowed his head as tears seeped from his eyes.

"I...I'm sorry!" Rin cried through his sobs out, his grip tightening on Shiro's, who winced but ignored it mostly for Rin. "I'm so sorry! I-I...I shouldn't have...g-gone off like that or ruined everything you did for me! I….I should have listened! I-I shouldn't have caused you problems! I'm...I'm sorry that I disobeyed even after you got hurt! I'm sorry!"

Their hearts broke even more at Rin's broken words that fell from in between his sobs. Yukio, having no idea what had happened before that caused the attack, grew curious over what he was sobbing about but also knew that this was not the time to ask question. He watched as Shiro reached his other hand up to place it on Rin's, trying to comfort him but Rin shook his head at everything. Yukio placed his own hand on Rin's shoulder, trying to comfort him but Rin didn't seem to notice.

"Rin, it's ok." Shiro tried to comfort him. "It's-"

"But it's not!" Rin exclaimed. "It's my fault I'm injured! It's my fault that your plans were ruined and you had to fight off demons! It's my fault the monastery was destroyed and everyone got hurt! It's my fault you were hurt and Satan got you! It's my fault that you were almost taken to Gehenna and it's my fault that I'm no longer human! I ruined everything and it's all. My! Fault! And I'm sorry!"

"Rin, calm down!" Shiro shouted, fighting back his own tears as his adoptive son's words struck his heart. He could already tell that the other had drawn the sword. He knew Rin and he could see the small differences that others would ignore. "Rin, I don't blame you."

"You should, damnit! You should!" Rin growled out, but his family could see there was no anger in there except what was directed at himself.

"But I won't!" Shiro shouted back. He took the hand he had placed on top of Rin's hand and reached up to place it on his cheek. He brushed away the tears there and made Rin tilt his head so he could see his eyes. "Rin, you have suffered as well, but I would have never wished for you to suffer in any way!"

"But-"

"No Rin!" Shiro shouted, closing his eyes to hold back his tears. "I would never and will never wish for you to suffer! I love you and I do not blame you! Listen to me Rin." His voice lowered to a much more serious tone and he tightened his own grip as much as he could on Rin's hand while his other hand pulled Rin closer. "I love you and I do not blame you, and don't ever think I will ever stop doing so."

Rin fell quiet at the words though tears continued to stream down his face. No one was able to speak as Shiro's words remained floating in the air. He had reopened his eyes to look at Rin once again, keeping his hands in place as he tried to convey the truth in his words. It was seconds later that Rin opened his mouth once more.

"...Damnit, Old Man," He choked out surprising all of them. "Why can't you just let me take the blame?"

Shiro gave a watery smile. "Because I know my son, and I know he would never do anything like this on purpose."

Rin's breath hitched again and soon he collapsed forward and pressed his face against the bed sheets. Both Yukio and Shiro jumped at the sudden fall, but Shiro softened his gaze when he heard the choked sobs coming from the boy. Shiro moved his hand that was on his cheek to his hair, threading his fingers through the navy locks.

Shiro turned his gaze away from his crying son to look at his other son. When Yukio and Shiro's eyes met, they could both see the worry, sadness, and confusion in their eyes. Yukio wanted to ask questions, he wanted to understand what had happened that day when Rin lost his sight and Shiro was injured. He wanted to know why everything he and Shiro had tried to protect had fallen apart and how. And Shiro, he only wanted to know why his child had fallen so far into guilt.

Unable to speak, Shiro and Yukio just sat there, listening to Rin's muffled sobs with their own tears in their eyes. Yukio took a moment to let his eyes flicker over to the call button for the doctors. He knew he should inform them that Shiro was awake, but in response to that his eyes would turn away from the button and look at his brother once more.

Taking a deep breath, Yukio reached over and pressed the button, feeling Shiro's eyes on him as he moved. After that was done, he turned back to Shiro and gave a helpless shrug towards the button.

"I...uh...I figured the doctors in charge should know you're awake so you can get looked over." Yukio explained. Shiro nodded in response but then sent a helpless look towards the other twin.

"You three should probably get out of here when they come in." Shiro said, looking at Yukio and Kuro. "That way they can do what they need to." Looking down at Rin, Shiro prodded Rin. "Rin, you need to let go of me. We have to let the doctors look me over."

"...No." Rin mumbled, his head still down. "...I don't want to leave you again."

Shiro gave a slight chuckle, hoping his words would lighten the mood enough to calm Rin down. "Hey, I'll be fine! I agree that I want you guys to stay after so long, but I also know that Yukio would yell at me if I didn't get looked over."

Seeing what he was doing, Yukio rolled his eyes at his father figure. "You are a grown adult. I shouldn't have to remind you to keep an eye on your health."

"If I had it my way I would be out of here as fast as I would be able to."

"Yes, well, you were stabbed in the chest. I don't think that is something you can heal quickly from."

"I've been, what, asleep for how long? It shouldn't take much longer!"

Yukio sighed at the older man but he was cut off from a choked chuckle from Rin. The navy-haired teen had raised his head but continued to look down at the sheets. Reaching over to grab Rin's cane, since the sword was strapped to his back, Yukio then placed his hand on Rin's shoulder.

"Come on, we'll wait outside and once we can we'll come right back inside, ok?" At Rin's hesitant nod, Yukio helped Rin move around the seat and Kuro lept up onto Rin's shoulder. They left the room just as the doctors came in, each rushing to aid the Paladin of True Cross.

Rin and Yukio sat down in waiting chairs outside of the room and Kuro curled up in Rin's lap, trying to offer some comfort. Rin let his fingers trail through the black fur, relaxing when Kuro's soothing purrs came from the actions. Rin's mind was numb with everything that had happened, he didn't even take notice of any silhouettes that passed by his vision, his mind to preoccupied the the fact that Shiro was awake and he didn't blame him.

"Rin?" Yukio spoke up, looking at his brother. He got a hum in response and continued. "...What were you...were you talking about in there? Can you tell me what happened? Before I found you that day?"

Rin blinked slowly, as if processing the question. Yukio knew it was probably a lot to ask, but he wanted to know, he wanted to understand what was going on so he could help.

Finally after what seemed like hours, Rin opened his mouth. "I don't...don't see why you need to know." He spoke slowly.

Yukio furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Because I want to understand Rin. I don't want to be kept in the dark."

"You mean like I was kept in the dark for most of my life?" Rin spoke up, his voice a bit sharp with bitterness.

Yukio frowned. "Rin-"

"No," Rin shook his head. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. You were just...protecting me."

"Rin, please, tell me what happened."

Rin shook his head again. "I don't want to. Besides, you're smart enough, you should have put it together already."

"No Rin, I want to hear it from you."

"Why? It doesn't matter anymore."

"But it does matter." Yukio denied. "If it is bothering you, then it matters." Yukio took a deep breath. "Why can't you just tell me?"

Rin clenched his free fist. "Because...because I don't want you to realize how wrong the Old Man is." RIn breathed out. "He's tired and drugged up, so I understand if he can't see right from wrong. But you aren't and I don't want you to hate me any more than you do now."

Yukio's heart broke once again. "I don't hate you Rin, and I'm sorry if I ever made you believe that."

"You told me to die." Rin breathed, too tired to control all his thoughts.

Yukio nodded solemnly. "I did, but I don't want that, I never really did. I was just angry that day, not at you, but everything that had happened. I don't hate you Rin, and I doubt anything could make me hate you."

"But-"

"Rin, tell me what happened and I will judge from there."

Rin was silent. He knew he should tell his brother, but he was so hesitant to do so. He was worried his brother would realize that Rin really was to blame. It was one thing to confirm it with yourself, but it was another to hear it from a loved on. But then again, Rin was just so tired. From everything, the way it all seemed to be piling up on each other, all his emotions and regrets. What was one more person to realize he was messed up? Hoping it would relieve some of the weight he felt on his shoulders, Rin spoke.

He told Yukio everything that happened that day, or at least everything he could remember. There was the moment when everything was nothing but empty pain, so Rin couldn't explain much there, but he otherwise explained everything. His tongue was loose with exhaustion, so he simply told his brother everything.

When he was done, he didn't look towards his brother, he didn't bother trying to see what would be disappointment. He didn't try to feel the negative emotions from his brother that was no doubt being projected onto him. Everything was just too much and while telling his brother what happened lifted some weight, he knew he would soon be buried beneath his twin's hatred once again.

However, Rin was taken by surprise when he felt strong arms wrap around him and Rin felt Kuro shift out of his lap. Blinking, he noticed the flames that made up his brother's form before his face was pressed against Yukio's coat and he felt his brother's chin on his head.

"Wha-"

"I'm so sorry Rin." Yukio spoke. "You shouldn't have gone through that and I'm sure my actions after that didn't help you at all."

"Stupid four-eyes." Rin huffed against his chest. "You don't need to apologize for anything. I'm the one who caused all the problems."

Yukio sighed. "No, Rin, you really didn't. It would only be your fault if you wanted all of this to happen, but you didn't and you were hurt just as much as father was."

"But-"

"Hush." Yukio said, tightening his grip on his brother. "Don't argue anymore. I can tell you're tired. I'm tired. When we can, we'll stop in to see dad then I think that will be it for now."

Rin wanted to protest, to say he wasn't tired, but that would be a lie. He could feel how his body wanted to sag into his brother's arms, how the comforting arms around him and the peaceful flames that made up his vision seemed to lull him into a sense of relaxation. So he nodded into his brother's chest.

Yukio pulled away slightly to look down at his brother. Rin's eyes were slightly red from all his crying and there were tear tracks down his cheeks. Looking into his brother's weary, cloudy eyes, he knew that Rin really didn't believe either himself or Shiro yet. It would probably be awhile until Rin even took a chance at believing their words.

But now Yukio knew more about what happened, he knew just what those nightmares were about once he made the connection. He could help his brother and hopefully that will show Rin that neither of them blame them. If anything, Yukio hadn't helped Rin in the slightest in the beginning when his guilt was still so fresh, so now he would do what he could to help him get rid of it.

A little less than an hour later, a doctor caught their attention and told them they could go visit Shiro for a few moment. Nodding his thanks, Yukio helped Rin up and into the room once more. When they entered, Yukio could tell Shiro had been given some more pain medication from the doctors and would need rest himself.

After wishing each other goodnight, Shiro reached out one last time for his boys. "I love you both." He whispered. "Now go to bed."

Rin looked away while Yukio nodded with a soft smile. Yukio took his keys out of his pockets and closed the door to the hospital room. Placing the key in the lock, he reopened the door and allowed the soft glow of the doorway to their home shine into the room.

The soft tapping of a cane alerted Yukio of his brother coming up slowly behind him. With one last wish of wellness to their father, both boys left through the doorway, finally able to rest after the day of excitment.


	17. Chapter 17

“Hey did you guys hear?” Shima asked as the class, with the exception of the Okumura twins who had yet to enter the classroom, waited for the school day for cram school to start. “Apparently, the Paladin’s finally woken up.” This had almost all the students in the class looking at him.

Of course they knew about the Paladin, as well as the fact he had been hospitalized since the start of the school year. It was something that had been announced since the Paladin was such an important figure in the True Cross order as well as something that needed to be known should aid be either sought out from him or they would need a replacement if he died. Not only that, but it was said he had been injured due to a battle with Satan, which was really the only demon they believed had the ability to render the Paladin in such a state. 

The thing was, however, that no one except for maybe the higher ups seemed to have any idea as to why the Paladin encountered Satan in the first place. Of course many brushed that fact off with the simple thought of ‘its Satan, does he need a reason to attack Assiah?’.

“Where did you hear about this?” Konekomaru asked his pink haired friend.

“Eh?” Shima laughed rubbing the back of his head nervously. “Well, when I was coming into school I overheard a few of the teachers talking about it. I didn’t know if it had been announced or anything so I felt like I should share the information. I mean, it's not like we wouldn’t find out later or something, right?”

That was true. Sooner or later it would be announced that the Paladin was awake and whether or not if he was still fit to fulfill his role as the Paladin. It was just like situations with famous people on the news, only this was kept to those of the True Cross order.

“Oh!” Shiemi perked up at the news getting the others to look at her in confusion. She didn’t notice them, however, because her mind was busy with worries for her friends. She knew about Shiro being in the hospital just like the others, but she also knew his connection with Yukio and by extension Rin. She never really had the chance to see how they were dealing with the situation since they had been busy with cram school and she wanted to keep an eye on Rin. If she tried to bring it up they would wave away her question or change the conversation.

“Moriyama? What is it?” Suguro asked, quirking an eyebrow at her, his voice knocking her out of her thoughts and making her jump.

“Oh, nothing,” She exclaimed. “I was just wondering how Rin and Yukio were handling the news. I mean, they probably already knew but I’m still worried about them. I don’t even know how they would be feeling. Will they be here today? I wouldn’t judge them if they weren’t since they are probably...just...processing it.” She trailed off at the end when she noticed most of her classmates, the exception being Takara and Yamada as usual, staring at her in confusion. “What?”

“I understand them already knowing.” Suguro began. “Mr. Okumura’s an exorcists and Okumura would find out through him, but why would they need to process what happened?”

“You don’t know?” Shiemi asked, blinking at them.

“Know what?” Suguro pressed.

Shiemi bit her lip and looked down, twirling her fingers together nervously. “I-I don’t know if I should say. I mean, it’s their business and up to them to say something.”

“Aww, come on,” Shima spoke up, giving her a smile. “I get what you’re saying, but they’re our friends too. If they’ll be upset or something, we want to know why. Don’t you think we should at least be able to keep from upsetting them or something?”

Shiemi continued to nibble on her lip and seemed to war with herself before taking a deep breath. “O-Ok!” She exclaimed. “Mr. Fujimoto is Yukio and Rin’s father!” After she said that she let out the breath she had been holding. When she opened her eyes and looked back at the others, Shiemi found them all staring at her with wide eyes filled with disbelief.

“What!?” They all screamed making Shiemi flinch back.

“There is no way that blue monkey is related to the Paladin!” Suguro growled, unable to believe it.

“W-Well, I think their adopted but still, it’s...it’s true.” Shiemi squeaked. Suguro was about to shoot back another response when the door to the classroom opened and they saw Rin slowly shuffle into the room. 

The navy-haired boy looked tired, slight bags resting beneath his foggy blue eyes and his appearance rumpled. He shuffled forwards slowly, his cane moving slightly side to side while Kuro seemed to sit on Rin’s shoulders with a worried look. When he reached his desk, the way there memorized by now, he slowly slid into his seat. Rin rested his cane next to his desk and shifted the sword further up onto his shoulder before hunching forward.

Rin really didn’t notice the silence when he entered the room. The day had seemed like it was far away from him. His normally heightened senses seemingly dulled. After yesterday, he was just tired. The emotional baggage he carried around for so long and collapsed yesterday and while it seemed lighter than before, it wasn’t gone completely. His dreams were spent thinking of the night his life was changed forever. He thought the weight of his guilt would lighten considerably when Shiro woke up, but now he was just nervous instead of relieved. 

If he was honest, he would have mistake this for a dream if he didn’t know any better. But he did. He knows that if this way a dream, his mind would not have allowed Shiro to seemingly forgiven him so easily, not with the way his guilt has eaten at him since they were attacked. Maybe Yukio’s actions wouldn’t seem too odd in a dream, but he would have still been a little taken aback. Yukio had even offered him to take the day off so that he had energy for when they visited Shiro later, but he declined the offer. If Yukio was still going to school, Rin could as well. He wouldn’t let a break down keep him from trying to make things better.

“...In...Rin? Are you alright?” A soft, tentative and familiar voice called out to him, breaking him out of his thoughts. Rin let his eyes trail over the darkness of his vision to see Shiemi’s silhouette facing him. 

He gave her a smile, hoping it was a convincing one. “Yeah, I’m fine Shiemi, don’t worry.”

Clearly she didn’t believe him. From a few changes in breaths around him, Rin also knew that his other classmates didn’t believe him either.

“You’re clearly not alright, idiot.” Izumo huffed.

“Yeah, it's fine if you want to take the day off or something. We understand if you want to take the time to visit your dad or something.” Shima offered and Rin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. His slow and tired brain tried to connect all the dots, and, after he looked at Shiemi’s fidgeting figure, he figured it out. There was only one student who would have already known the connection to the Paladin.

“You told them?” Rin gaped at Shiemi.

“I’m sorry!” She cried back bowing her head as far as she could while sitting down. “I just wanted them to understand if you weren’t here today or something and I didn’t mean to betray you or anything!”

“It was our fault!” Shima quickly jumped in. “We pressured her into telling us! If you have to be mad at someone, don’t let it be Shiemi!”

Rin sighed before leaning his cheek on his hand. “Alright, alright, calm down. I’m not mad just shocked ok? Don’t go crazy though, now that you know my Old Man is the Paladin.” He tried to make a joke, he really did, but his heart wasn’t in it.

“Are you sure you’re alright though, Okumura?” Konekomaru spoke up.

“Yeah,” Rin said trying to wave off their worries. “I mean, it was just a long night and everything, but I’m good. The Old Man is awake and that’s all that matters.”

“Still,” Shima mumbled, concern coloring his words. “I mean, to hear what happened to him and now after so long to have your dad wake up, it must be a little tiring.”

Rin froze at the words. He knew Shima meant well with his words, he knew that. He could even tell that in the wording nothing ill was hidden in there and even knew what the words meant exactly. But Rin’s mind was still so tired and raw from the swirling emotions he’s been experiencing. If he had been in better shape, he knew he wouldn’t have been affected, but he wasn’t in a good state.

So the words, ‘to hear what happened to him’ struck a sensitive chord in his mind that normally would be unaffected by such things. Because those words described that time perfectly. 

He  _ heard  _ what had happened to Shiro, to everyone. He listened to the priest’s screams of pain that echoed along side the screams of the demons. The listened as Shiro had tried to talk to him, tried to help him because his stupid actions had started the whole thing and then rendered him useless. He listened when Shiro told him to get away and when that twisted voice broke his words. He had heard the flames ignite and the crazed laugh of the demon king. He heard the bones break and the blood drip from Shiro’s hands. He heard the Gehenna Gate’s tar-like noise as it was created and how it sounded to move in it.

He had heard Shiro call him his son before his body collapse and it wasn’t long after that his hearing became even more sensitive than before.

He had heard every haunting noise, felt every terrifying touch, and smelled every toxic smell. Even now, he could still feel it all. His raw and overwhelmed mind took him back to that place and far away from the classroom while his body remained where it was, hands clenching and eyes glazed over a pale face.

“Rin?” Shiemi called out to the teen besides her. Her green eyes worriedly trailed over her friend and took in his quiet form. 

“Oi, Okumura?” Suguro called out, standing up from his seat. He was about to approach Rin when the door opened and Yukio shuffled in. He looked tired just as Rin did, but was certainly in better shape than his brother.

“I apologize for being late.” Yukio said as he walked in. “There were things I needed to take care of for-” He froze when he took in his students: his brother frozen in his seat and seemingly unresponsive, his students all staring both at him and at his brother, and Suguro frozen in his march up to Rin. “What is going on here?”

There was a tone to his voice, one that showed that if they had anything to due with Rin’s state and were unable to explain it, they would have to answer for it.

“We don’t know.” Suguro spoke up, getting his teacher to turn his eyes to him. “Okumura came in trying to act normal and was trying to convince us he was fine when he clearly wasn’t, and he suddenly went quiet.”

Yukio nodded and quickly put his things on his desk before moving towards Rin. “Thank you for informing me. I would like to know the specifics once this is dealt with.” He didn’t even look away from his brother to see them agree, his focus entirely on Rin’s still and pale body.

Everyone was silent at their teacher knelt next to Rin and Shiemi’s desk besides his brother. Yukio let his eyes trail over Rin’s face, taking in the paralyzed look of horror coloring his features. He didn’t risk touching him, not yet. He didn’t know where his emotionally unstable brother was at the moment and he couldn’t risk Rin’s flames sparking in fear if Yukio’s touch triggered something and made his state worse.

“Rin? Nii-san, can you hear me?” Yukio called keeping his own eyes locked on Rin’s. Next to him on the table, Kuro’s tails swished nervously. “Rin, I need you to listen to me. You’re not there, he’s not here. Both you and dad are safe. Can you hear me? You’re safe Rin.”

Yukio continued to talk like that, attempting to coax his brother away from whatever memories had trapped him and back to the present. The others watched, tension so palpable in the air one could cut it with a knife. No one dared to make any loud movements, a few of them even afraid breathing would ruin Yukio’s chances of getting through to his brother.

After what felt like hours, which was really only a few minutes, there was a reaction. Rin’s hands, which hand been clenched tightly into fists on his knees, slowly relax. Yukio’s keen eyes caught sight of the change and looked for any other signs his brother was returning to them. Rin’s breathing changed as well, becomes a little calmer than before, and his eyes lost some of the glossy shine of the far away look he had.

Taking a deep breath, Yukio slowly raised one of his hands and placed it on Rin’s shoulder. Rin tensed at the contact but it didn’t seem to undue any of the process made beforehand. In fact, Rin seemed to come back to the world even more at the touch.

“Rin?” Yukio softly called. This time, Rin reacted to his name as he came further and further out of the memory he had been trapped in. Rin blinked and let his eyes focus on the silhouette of his brother that crouched in front of him. As he came back to his body, he took a sharp, deep and shaky breath.

“...Yuki...o?” Rin breathed out, his tense body relaxing as he took in his brother’s presence. 

“Yes, Nii-san, it’s me.” Yukio replied with a relieved tone, his own body relaxing as well. Despite the fact that Rin had now come back to them, no one else dared to break the delicate calm that settled over the two brothers. “Are you alright now?”

Rin took a deep breath, closing his eyes before opening them once more. “...Yeah.” He breathed out once again. “I’m...I’m alright.”

Yukio continued to look over his brother before speaking once more. “Rin, I think you should go back to the dorm. No don’t protest,” He said when he saw his brother’s mouth opening. “You’re not alright Rin, you need to take a day and relax, understood?”

Rin wanted to protest, he really did, but he just didn’t have it in him. He thought that having Shiro awake would be much more relaxing, something that would calm both his and Yukio’s nerves, but it seemed to be doing the opposite. Rin felt more tired than before and all those bad emotions he was able to sweep under his happy rug were poking back out. The effects were also obvious on his brother, but Yukio didn’t seem to want to show it as much.

So, deciding that he would rather have this go away as soon as possible, Rin nodded to his brother and slowly stood up on shaky legs. Yukio stood as well, hands out and ready to support his brother as he moved out from behind the desk. Kuro jumped to the ground and followed after the brothers. Yukio watched as his brother shuffled forward slowly, his grip on his cane even showing his fatigue. Yukio took out his keys and made sure the door in the classroom was completely closed before placing one of the keys in the lock and opening the door once again. Knowing where it would lead, Rin told Yukio he could take it from there and entered the doorway with Kuro.

Yukio watched them go before sighing and closing the door, allowing it to once again be the entrance between the hall and the classroom. Putting his keys away, Yukio turned towards the class.

“Alright, now, I would like to know exactly what happened before I entered the classroom.” Yukio said, narrowing his gaze as he looked over his class.

Raising his hand, Konekomaru spoke up. “If you don’t mind, sir, but I would like to explain what happened.”

Nodding his head, Yukio said. “Alright.”

With that, Konekomaru explained what had happened during the beginning of class. Yukio had shot a look over to Shima when he heard he was the one to bring up the subject of their father figure as well as persuade Shiemi to inform them off the fact they were related. As Konekomaru neared the end, Yukio believed he understood what exactly set his brother off, no matter how unintentional it was.

“I see,” Yukio spoke at the end of it closing his eyes as he let out a soft sigh.

“So, do you know what caused him to have such a sudden reaction?” Suguro asked, once again sitting at his desk.

Yukio nodded and opened his eyes. “Yes. It was something none of you could have guessed and I even understand what you meant by the words. Actually, I’m sure Rin knew what you meant as well, but his mind has just been overwhelmed since Paladin Fujimoto’s awakening.”

“What was it, exactly?” Shima asked only to jump when Yukio’s eyes settled directly on him.

“Exactly? Its was the words ‘to hear what happened to him’ would be exactly what triggered my brother’s sudden attack.”

“What?!” The cries came from many of his students and Yukio sighed.

“To prevent such things from happening, there is something I have to tell you all. I know my brother would have prefered to tell you himself, but I don’t even know when that would be.” Yukio said. Everyone was silent as they listened to their teacher talk. “What you need to understand is that when the Paladin was attacked, he wasn’t just with other exorcists. My brother was there as well. This means he did exactly as you said, he heard what happened to our father.”

Everyone let out sounds of surprise. Shiemi’s eyes watered with tears while Izumo clenched her fists. The trio in the back of the room were all frozen in shock; Shima’s expressions showing horror and guilt, Suguro’s showed anger, worry, and horror, and Konekomaru’s eyes showed understanding and sorrow. Even the other two stopped their usual activities to express their own horror at the words.

Yukio let out a heavy sigh, “Not only that, but something else you need to understand is that Rin not only had to listen to everything happen, but he was also a victim. He had to listen and even feel everything while facing his own terror and pain. That night affected Rin so deeply, mentally and physically I doubt he will ever be healed.”

_ ‘Physically?’ _ Suguro thought, worry clouding his thoughts.  _ ‘Does he mean the panic attacks? No, that would apply with the mental part, so why-? Unless-’ _

“Mr. Okumura, do you mean to say, that Rin went blind that during that attack?” Suguro gasped, his eyes wide and staring at their teacher in disbelief. The other’s reacted just as vocally towards this question.

Yukio gave a weary smile. “Relatively. He was blinded a little before by demons, but it was during the attack all the same.” It hurt to say. Yukio felt the tears in his eyes before blinking them away. “That’s something I don’t really think will change much around all of you, it was more of the beginning half that I needed you to understand why he’s so sensitive at the moment.”

“However,” Yukio continued, this time a pleading smile on his lips as he addressed his class. “Please don’t treat him any differently than before, I just want you to be more cautious of what you say around him for a while. It won’t be long though, before Rin will come back bouncing off the walls, so don’t worry.”

They all nodded in agreement, and Yukio nodded back in acceptance. He knew that he should have left this for Rin to tell them, but they needed to understand the basics of it. Rin could, if he wanted to, tell them the details if he ever let them in on his other secret, but for now they just needed to understand this part. He really wasn’t going to tell them that Rin had been so recently blinded, but he should have expected Suguro to put something together. The star student had already done so much digging into Rin’s business it didn’t surprise him to catch on to that part.

“Now, we still do have class so I would like to cover at least some of it today.” Yukio spoke up as he walked up to the front of the class to begin teaching.

Meanwhile, in his seat, Suguro was trying to pay attention to the lesson, but his mind kept wandering. Was this the connection he was looking for between Rin and Satan? Was Satan attempting to kill Rin or possess him to finish the job? But, if that was the point of the blue flames, why would Yukio know what to do and not alert anyone? Why did it seem that the blue flames were something of a regular thing, for past the worry of it being Satan?

Suguro was missing something, but he would wait before digging into it. For now, the Okumura brothers deserved a bit of peace.


	18. Chapter 18

“Hello, Yukio.” Shiro greeted when Yukio walked into his hospital room later that day after cram school. “Where’s Rin?”

“He’s back at the dorm.” Yukio said as he took a seat with a sigh, already tired from the events of the day. “Hopefully, he’s resting or has Kuro watching him at the very least.”

Shiro frowned, worry evident in his eyes as he stared at Yukio. “What happened?” He knew Rin had no doubt been tired from his emotional episode yesterday, and while he knew even if Rin wasn’t completely rested from the day before, he still expected him to show up. He knew that boy well enough that if Rin was truly showing his weaknesses in some way, then he was not okay.

“There was an… incident today in class.” Yukio said after taking a deep breath. “He had a break down due something said by the other students. I know that they didn’t mean to cause it, but it still happened and I had to send Rin back to the dorms. Not only that, but I also had to reveal to the class about what exactly happened that night, at least the basic parts of it that I knew and gathered from Rin. Of course, I refrained from telling them about Rin’s awakening, but I still had to reveal more than what Rin would have told them, at least for now. When I return to the dorms I’ll tell Rin about what I had to do.”

“I see.” Shiro hummed. “Well, it was bound to happen, no doubt. I’m glad you’re looking out for your brother this way, Yukio.” He gave Yukio a smile. 

Yukio smiled back at his father figure before taking a breath and asking, “Rin told me...his side of what happened that night, but is there anything you could tell me that he might’ve missed? I just...I just want to understand...so I can be there for him.”

Shiro’s smile turned soft as he looked at his boy, understanding Yukio’s want to protect his brother. He’s been that way ever since he found out he could see demons and that he could protect Rin from something he didn’t know about. Even when Rin would protect Yukio, the younger twin would always make sure to help Rin with his wounds afterwards, plus a lecture over getting into fights.

“Well,” Shiro sighed. “I don’t know what else I could tell you. I guess one thing is how when I arrived to help Rin, he was already hurt by Astaroth, the demon who had come for him, and was almost taken away. I exorcised the demon king long enough to get Rin back to the monastery and fixed him up the best I could. It was around that time he came back to awareness. Everything else about the attack, you should vaguely know. I mean, I can’t really tell you anything that happened during the possession obviously.”

Yukio nodded in understanding and accepted what his father figure said. The puzzle was rough around the edges but he had a much more clear picture of what happened during the attack than he did previously. A sigh from his father figure caught his attention and he looked back at Shiro.

Shiro was looking up at the ceiling of his hospital room with a sorrowful expression that radiated guilt and worry. “I did what I could when he was hurt, when he was blinded by the demon, but I knew that he’d never really heal either. At least not completely, not without his demon blood. I know Rin unsheathed the sword, I can see the features and I can definitely tell with the lack of scar tissue around his eyes. It looks like the demon blood in him healed him,” Shiro turned to look at Yukio with a weary smile. “But that’s not the case, right? It only did the burn part, not the sight part.”

Yukio blinked at Shiro when he said that. He wasn’t really surprised that Shiro was able to pick up on those little things, he wasn’t Paladin just because he could be. He was more of taken aback by the sudden words that seemed to fill with guilt as he spoke. He wanted to reply, but he was frozen by Shiro’s words and the sad air to the room. 

Shiro caught his expression and gave a soft chuckle. “Please, I knew Rin couldn’t see the moment he couldn’t really focus on my face. Then there was the cane as well. All the little things. I’m shocked you thought I couldn’t put that together.”

Yukio shook his head as he found his voice. “No, it’s not that. I just...why are you bringing this up? You saw that other than his emotional break down yesterday and I guess today that he’s doing fine.”

“I don’t know.” Shiro sighed. “I trust what you’re saying Yukio, I really do, but I’m just worried and upset. I had hopped that unsheathing the sword and allowing his demon side to awaken would just heal him like any other demon, but it seems I was wrong. Now Rin has to deal with being sightless and a half-demon. I just wish it had done more than just de-scar his eyes, done something to make things easier for him.”

It was quiet after that, Yukio just looking at Shiro while Shiro gazed up at the ceiling with worry filled eyes.

“...Well,” Yukio spoke up after the few moments of silence. “It didn’t just take away the burns.”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Shiro turned to look at Yukio. “What do you mean?”

Yukio took a deep breath before responding, his eyes trailing to the floor as he spoke. “Rin told me that the demon blood actually tried to do something that could help him. He said...that...he could see the silhouettes of living things, or at least relatively moving things. He said that the flames made up the forms of people, animals, and demons and each in a slightly different way to tell them apart. So...while it’s not much, since he usually can’t see anything other than the silhouettes, he at least can tell where people and demons are.”

Shiro relaxed a little in the bed, Yukio’s words helping to cushion the worry he had for Rin. “That’s good, at least. But,” He tilted his head slightly at Yukio. “What did you mean by usually? Does his vision sometimes go away?”

“No-” Yukio paused, his mind going back to the night Neuhaus attacked and thought about how after the attack Rin didn’t try to focus on anyone as he usually did. He would have to ask Rin about that later. “At least not that I’m aware of. No, what I was actually going to tell you might be considered good news.”

“What is it?”

“As I said before, Rin can’t see anything except for people and creatures. He usually can’t see the place he’s in or the things there. However, he told me that when he draws the sword, he can see everything, except in shades of black and blue flames. If I had to guess...I’d say it’s like seeing in black and white only that the white is blue flames instead.”

It was quiet as Yukio allowed Shiro to take this information in. He let his eyes travel up from the floor which he had been staring at to look at Shiro. Yukio blinked as he watched a calm smile come to the older man’s face and had it directed at him.

“That does make me feel better, thank you Yukio.” Shiro said. “I’m glad that you’ve been looking out for your brother.”

Yukio was about to smile back, to thank Shiro and explained that he was always going to do his best to help Rin even when his brother didn’t want it, but he paused. A knot of guilt bubbled up from his chest and into his throat when he realized that statement wasn’t completely true. The first day of class rang in his mind at that moment, reminding him of how cruel he had been to his brother that day. The way he had told him to just die. Yukio had been trying to make up for it since then, but he needed Shiro to know. 

He needed Shiro to know that he had failed to protect Rin from himself at that moment and to ask for forgiveness.

“Actually,” Yukio spoke up, his eyes falling to the ground once again, not wishing to look at his father figure when he admitted his wrong doings. “...I...dad I...messed up.”

“What do you mean Yukio?” Shiro asked, wondering what could have his proud and accomplished boy so ashamed.

“I…” Yukio took a deep breath. “I hurt Rin!”

They were quiet for a few moments before Shiro spoke up in a soft and measured voice. “What do you mean Yukio? Explain to me how you’ve hurt him.”

Yukio clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he spoke. “The first day of cram school...when Rin found out about me and basically everything we were keeping from him that wasn’t revealed by you, he got upset. He confronted me and demons showed up and...and I said some cruel things to him in the middle of the fight. I even pointed my gun at him!”

“What did you say?”

Yukio clenched his fists even tighter to the point his knuckles were bone white. “I...I called him a demon...I told him he was a danger. I blamed him for everything that happened to you, said you were his weakness. I...I even told him to turn himself in or even...or even to just die!” 

A choked sob came up from Yukio’s lips and he took a shuddering breath before continuing talking. “Despite doing that...he...he said he wouldn’t fight me, he even smiled at me! I...I’ve been trying to make it up to him, to be there for him, but…” He trailed off, voice cracking and falling away now that everything was out. He couldn’t lift his head, Yukio couldn’t look Shiro in the eyes now that this was out.

“What have you been doing to make up for what you said?” Shiro asked after a few seconds of listening to his child try to keep his sobs in.

“Wha-...” Yukio was taken aback for a second before answering. “I’ve been helping him learn how to take notes and read braille. I’ve been tutoring him on the lessons at the dorms as well as making sure he can move around alright. I’ve made sure to keep him safe from other exorcists as well as wake him up from nightmares when I notice them or make sure he’s healthy and happy. I let him continue cooking so he could be happy. I’m...I’m trying to do everything I can for him at the moment.”

“Then keep doing that.” Shiro said, his words making Yukio look up at him. When his eyes met Shiro’s, he was taken aback by the caring look in them that were joined by a soft smile. “You were upset at the time and while you didn’t mean what you said, it's true that it probably hurt your brother for a moment. However, if you keep doing what you are doing, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve already atoned for what you said.”

Yukio blinked. “Dad…”

Shiro chuckled. “Besides, from what I can tell, Rin has already forgiven you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he forgave you the moment you stopped fighting. Rin’s never been one to hold grudges unless it was truly something to be mad over.”

Yukio was too shocked to speak, so he simply gave a nod to Shiro as his mind processed what was being said.

“Yukio, do you remember what I told Rin the other day when he broke down crying?” Shiro spoke up, as he looked at Yukio, his smile never dropping for a second. 

Yukio opened his mouth to reply, but found he couldn’t get his voice to work as he continued to look at the man who had taken care of them all their lives.

Seeing Yukio’s struggle, Shiro’s smile softened and he raised his hand to place in on Yukio’s head. “I told him that I would never hate or blame him. I told him that I love him and that I knew he wouldn’t do something bad without a reason behind it. The same applies to you Yukio.” He ruffled Yukio’s hair gently. “I love you and I don’t blame or hate you. Neither does your brother. From what I can tell, you’ve done a great job of looking after him and I’m proud of you.”

Shiro’s words sunk into Yukio’s mind and took root. Tears sprang into his eyes as he continued to look at his father figure and soon Yukio was sobbing, his head bowed down as his body shook with his sobs. Shiro continued to look at him, his hand resting on Yukio’s head as he whispered loving words to his crying boy. 

Much like Rin yesterday, Yukio’s tears soon ended and he was left emotionally tired from the events. Shiro gave Yukio a smile when he looked up again and Yukio gave a watery one in return. 

His boys would be alright, Shiro decided. He would be there for them and would protect them, especially once he was out of this hospital. Speaking of which…

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Shiro said. “When do you think you can get me out of here?”

Yukio shot him a deadpan expression but anyone could see the love in his eyes.

“You can’t leave the hospital yet, dad.” Yukio said. “You were stabbed in the chest, you won’t be leaving so quickly.”

“But I’m fine!”

“Then try to sit up.”

“Er...well...uh…” Shiro mumbled trying to get around this. He still couldn’t sit up without his chest hurting and it seemed that his boy knew that as well.

“That’s what I thought.” Yukio huffed.

“Oh come on, it's been so long!”

“It’s been two days, I think you’re over exaggerating.” 

“Two days is a long time for an old man.” Shiro pouted.

“I’m sure.” Yukio sighed, shaking his head. Looking up at the clock in the room, he sighed when he saw the time and stood up. “I should be getting back. I need to tell Rin everything that happened as well as make sure he’s not pushing himself.”

“You said Rin is still cooking?” Shiro suddenly asked.

Yukio raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes? Why?”

“Really?”

“Yes, he found a way that works despite his condition.” Yukio gave Shiro a knowing look even as he asked his next question. “Why?”

“Well…” Shiro mumbled. “If it isn’t too much trouble, I’m sure a meal from Rin every so often would help me tolerate my stay here.”

Yukio chuckled and shook his head. “I’m sure Rin would have a great time making something for you. Of course, it will need to be cleared with the hospital but I don’t see why not.”

Shiro’s face lit up so blindingly bright that Yukio was afraid he would have to shield his eyes. Honestly Shiro was like a child at times, but Yukio couldn’t blame him when it came to Rin’s cooking.

As Shiro was cheering in the background, Yukio wished him a goodnight before leaving the room and using a key to get back to the dorm.


	19. Chapter 19

Yukio quietly closed the door behind him as he entered the dorm room. He sighed, quietly taking off his exorcist coat and trying to hang in up without much noise. He didn't bother turning on a light in the dark room even if it wouldn't really bother his brother, but he felt the light from the moon was enough to light the room up at this time of night. Besides, if Kuro was sleeping besides Rin, it wouldn't be nice to disturb the cat sidhe's sleep.

At the thought of his brother, Yukio glanced over to the bed where his brother was sleeping. He could see the slight rise and fall of his brother's chest, thankfully meaning that Rin wasn't having another nightmare. It's been awhile since he's gotten a peaceful night's rest. Yukio took a moment to think back on his conversation with Shiro, and how he would do anything for his brother. A soft smile came to his lips at the thought of being able to continue to look out for his brother the way he was.

Yukio began to change his clothing into his nightwear. Once that was done and his old clothing placed in a hamper, he sat on his bed with a sigh.

"...How'd it go?"

Yukio jumped slightly at the sound of his brother's tired voice and looked across the room to see the soft blue glow of Rin's eyes. With how unfocused they were compared to when Rin would usually talk to him, Yukio had to assume Rin wasn't even attempting to look at him at the moment.

"It was alright." Yukio replied before letting out his third sigh since he returned. "Rin, today, after you left, I had to tell the class about what happened to you that day with the demons and Satan. Obviously, I didn't tell them everything, but they needed to know what happened to an extent so that they can help avoid causing you any panic attacks."

Rin let out a sigh of his own. "There's only been two, technically. Nightmares don't count."

"Rin."

"Fine." Rin relented, too tired to argue his point. "I guess some things are just meant to be revealed."

Yukio hummed softly before speaking. "Speaking of revealing things, you haven't kept something from me have you?"

"What do you mean?" Rin asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"It's just, it occurred to me today that, I think there have been times you were completely blind. Like, whatever little vision you told me you have due to your flames wasn't working." Yukio replied, "Would you like to explain that to me?"

"Oh that?" Rin whispered tiredly. "It just...never really came up after it happened. It's only been twice, but apparently if I get covered in a high enough concentration of holy water, it can effect my eyesight. After that, it takes a little bit to get it back, the time length depending on how strong the holy water was. Don't know why it happens though. Sorry, I just...never brought it up."

Yukio shook his head. "It's fine, I'm just glad I know now. As for why it happens, I guess it would be either that your flames have to focus on the specific burns. That, or because holy water is made to get rid of demon taint, and your half demon, it would affect your abilities along with your skin."

"Sure, whatever." Rin mumbled out, the glow of his eyes shrinking slightly. "So...you and the old man are ok?"

Yukio smiled at his brother's care. "Yes Rin, we're fine. Why don't you go to sleep now?"

"Don't tell me what to do." Rin mumbled out as he slipped into sleep. Yukio continued to smile and shook his head at his brother before slipping beneath his own covers. With one last sigh for the night, Yukio followed his brother into sleep.

* * *

Suguro's sharp eyes followed Rin as he walked into class that day. It's been two days since his break down and Suguro's been getting impatient. He had given the navy-haired teen the space he needed and everyone would agree that Rin looked better from that original day. If he could, Suguro would give Rin extra time, but his curiosity over everything was growing and he knew he needed his questions answered as soon as possible.

Suguro took a moment to glance up at Yukio. He knew that confronting Rin about his thoughts would be going against his teacher's threat, but he couldn't sit back and let Rin be at risk if he could do anything to help him. Besides, if he didn't hurt Rin in anyway, then he should be safe from his teacher's wrath.

Suguro sat quietly in the back of the classroom as class progressed, many times taking a moment to glance at Rin in the front seat. By the time cram school ended, Suguro prepared himself to catch Rin on the way out.

"You guys go back to the dorm without me." Suguro told Konekomaru and Shima. "I have to talk to that monkey for a moment."

"Bon," Konekomaru began, worried about what Suguro was going to talk to Rin about. Everyone knew he and Rin easily got into fights, and Konekomaru didn't want that to happen now when Rin looked like he was doing alright. As much as he cared for his childhood friend, he could admit Suguro got a little hot headed sometimes.

"Don't worry, I won't start anything." Suguro said as he began to walk towards Rin. "I just have to clear something up."

Konekomaru looked like he wanted to object but Shima placed a hand on his shoulder with a smile. "Sure Bon! See you later then!" With that he ushered Konekomaru out of the room after the girls.

Yukio was talking to Rin when Bon approached them, Kuro resting on Rin's head. He explained that Rin needed to wait for him but then they could head back to the dorms together to drop off their things before heading to the hospital. Rin agreed, settling down into his seat again with his head resting on his hand as Yukio walked away.

"Oi, Okumura." Suguro called out once Yukio was out of the room. He watched as Rin's ears twitched under his hair before his blue eyes locked in his direction.

"What's up, rooster-hair?" Rin joked with a smirk. Suguro's eye twitched in irritation at the nickname, but he refrained from fighting with Rin. He didn't want to tiptoe around the subject, but it was difficult to figure out how to bring it up.

"Alright, look, I'm not going to dance around this subject." Suguro said getting a curious look from Rin. He needed his questions answered, and he wasn't going to hesitate, especially if this could be the only chance he could have at getting Rin alone.

"Wha-"

"What are you hiding?" Suguro cut him off, narrowing his eyes at Rin. The confusion was still on Rin's face, but Suguro saw it. He saw the small amount of panic hiding within those intense blue eyes that focused and refocused on him.

"What do you mean what am I hiding?" Rin chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm not hiding anything-"

"Don't lie to me, damn it!" Suguro snapped before taking deep breath. He couldn't loose it, not yet. Obviously he was going to have to be more specific if he was going to get his questions answered. "Back, after the exwire exam, I came to see Mr. Okumura. You were asleep at the time, however, I saw you and I watched as you had a nightmare, or at least that's what Mr. Okumura said it was. What makes me doubt it was the blue flames I watched surround you."

"You probably just saw things." Rin tried to pass off, but Suguro shook his head.

"No, I know I didn't. For a few seconds I thought I did, but I know I didn't, not with the way Mr. Okumura acted. Now, since then I've been thinking why that happened." He clenched his fists and spoke once more.

"So the real question here is, why is Satan targeting you?"

Rin was silent, and neither of the teens were willing to break the tense air that had descended between them. They each stared the other down, before it was Rin who finally broke, his teeth biting at his bottom lip as he seemed to struggle to reply.

"I…. I mean, I don't remember it happening,...but its probably just cause I have a connection to the Paladin-"

"No," Suguro cut him off again. "I thought about that, if he just wanted to get to the Paladin through you. However, he could easily just take over one of the hospital staff to get to him or even try the Paladin himself with his state right now. Clearly, this means Satan is after  _you_." Rin opened his mouth again but Suguro spoke before he could continue again. "And before you even bring up the fact that you escaped him, there are others who have escaped him as well, yet he hasn't come back for them. Not only that, but I noticed that when the flames were around you, you didn't get any more injured than you already were, something that has never happened. So why weren't you hurt?

"So I'll ask again, why is Satan targeting you? What is your connection with him?"

Once again silence descended upon the two teens. Rin's skin had rapidly paled during Suguro's speach, a cold sweat breaking out upon his forehead. He didn't know what to do. Suguro had covered so many things he could have easily used as an excuse, but now he had nothing to try and defend himself with. Despite his skill with avoiding and hiding things, Rin was never a good liar.

Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Rin let his eyes flicker to the darkness forever around him and Suguro's silhouette. The flames almost felt imposing this time he faced him, but that could just be his fear over the fact that it seems like he had been discovered.

"I...look," Rin started, scrambling over himself to try to find an excuse. His hand twitched and reached out to find Kuro, who was trying to comfort Rin. He could tell that the cat sidhe was tempted to run and get Yukio to help, but at the same time would only really do so if Rin asked for it. He knew how strong headed the navy haired teen was.

Rin licked his lips and tried to continue. "Look...if it was something really important I would tell you."

"Our definitions of 'really important' are rather different." Suguro snipped, crossing his arms. "If you don't remember, but you didn't exactly tell us you were blind."

"Yeah but-"

"God damn it, Okumura!" Suguro shouted, finally losing his patience with the other. "This is Satan we're talking about here! You can't brush this off! Just tell me what you're hiding!"

"I can't, damn it!" Rin shouted back, no longer trying to work his way out of this.

Suguro growled and reached forward to grab Rin by the front of his shirt and pull him up out of his seat to face him. "And why the hell not!? Do you still not trust us!?"

Kuro cried out in alarm when Rin was yanked forward but Rin ignored him to reply. "Of course I trust you, damn it!"

"It doesn't seem that way!"

"Look, I just can't tell you!"

"Why-"

"You'll hate me if I do, ok!" Rin took the chance to cut Suguro off this time. He glared at the taller teen, Rin's hand coming up to grip the one holding his shirt collar.

"What the hell?" Suguro muttered through gritted teeth. "You can't decide that! You have no idea how I'll react!"

"Yes I do!"

"No you-!"

"Well then how would you react to the son of Satan!" Rin blurted out. There, he said it. He couldn't keep it back, not with how unrelenting Suguro was. There was no easy way to walk out of this and Rin was afraid that is Suguro had kept pushing and Rin kept pushing back, he could have risked his flames coming out due to his emotions. While it's true that when his flames were sealed, he had control but at proven with his nightmares, it wasn't impossible for his flames to come out with such high emotion.

Rin felt the grip on his collar loosen and watched Suguro's silhouette slowly drop him back to the floor. Rin could just imagine the look on his face and he almost let out a bitter laugh.

"Wha-" Suguro muttered out, staring wide eyed at the teen in front of him. He couldn't process this, this didn't make sense. Yet, at the same time, it made almost perfect sense. He completely let go of Rin and stumbled backwards from him, shock overcoming his entire being.

"Well, you wanted to know, right?" Rin said bitterl, a sad smile on his face as his eyes much more unfocused then before as he gazed at the floor.

Before any more could be said, a cough came from the door and Suguro turned to see Yukio standing there and glaring at him, Kuro at his feet. The cat sidhe padded forward and meowed at Rin when he reached his feet. Rin's eyes drifted to look at the cat for a second before they returned to their far away gaze.

"Rin," Yukio spoke, his glare never leaving Suguro. "Go and wait in the hall for me."

Rin didn't even reply as he grabbed his sword and cane before following Kuro out of the room. Now, only Suguro and Yukio were left in the room and, before Suguro could even blink, he was being pressed against a wall byt Yukio.

"You completely went against my warning." Yukio spoke, his voice hushed yet so loud in Suguro's ears. "You asked Rin any way and pushed him to answer, and now that you have your answer, you can't speak. So I will tell you this, when this all fully processes, you need to make your decision, preferably as soon as possible. If you decide you no longer with to work with my brother nor be his friend, fine but you will not hurt him at any time past that, do you understand?"

Suguro was silent before choking as Yukio slammed him into the wall.

"I asked, do you. Understand?" Yukio growled.

"Y-Yes." Suguro choked out.

Letting him go, Yukio gaze him one last glare and a curt nod before turning swiftly and leaving the room.

Suguro was left by himself.

* * *

All night, the sudden reveal of his classmate had raged through Suguro's mind. His mind connected the little odd things about Rin and filled in any blanks he had. Things seemed to make so much sense and yet seemed to make none. The next day, he spared only glances at Rin but otherwise the two did not speak. The other's had asked about it, as Suguro did not tell anyone what he had been told, but they were not given an answer other then that they had a fight.

All day he felt Rin's fearful air and the murderous glares of his brother. That day he spent just processing everything and by that night came around, he was able to truly think about what he had found out. At first, he was fully prepared to reject Rin, but small things would remind him that, Rin wasn't just the son of Satan. Watching him interact with their friends and thoughts on the past experiences made him hesitate in his decision.

The second day after the reveal, he spent his time watching Rin, trying to find anything different in him, if there were any hidden motives or something. There was nothing. Nothing about Rin had changed, he was still his friendly, silly, and caring self. Seeing as Rin was still the same, Suguro thought deeper, and he couldn't help but connect to Rin, or at least understand his reasons when he remembered his own childhood, how he had been shunned because of his connections. Even if it was still hard to accept, Suguro knew Rin was doing only what he thought was best, so he finally decided what he would do.

So, on the the third day after the reveal, when Rin had stumbled into a desk edge do to a slight shift in it and his attempts to walk without his cane again, Suguro had shouted out to him to be careful. His shout had made Rin freeze, the navy haired teen acting like he was hallucinating or something, frozen where he stood. So Suguro sighed, stood up, and dragged Rin into his seat, much like he had done a few times after the discovery that Rin was blind.

The smile that graced Rin's face was blinding before he responded with a familiar, teasing nickname. Suguro replied back in kind and, when he glanced up to the front of the classroom, there was a small smile on Yukio's face.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! I'm alive! Don't worry I'm not abandoning this story, not while I still have plans for it! I've just been really busy with school, work, drama, and the fact that different animes and fandoms keep dragging me into them.  
> Thank you all for sticking with it though!  
> Here's the next chapter!

Rin sighed as he listened to his classmates talk about one of the past missions they had been sent to help out with. Yukio had been reluctant to send Rin on a mission where he couldn't keep track of him, worried about how things would go if he wasn't there to watch over him, so today would really be his first mission as an exwire. He understood where his brother was coming from, especially with all the emotional outbursts they had within the past few weeks, but he was fine. Honestly, he was sure that if this mission hadn't come up, he would have said something to him.

He heard the three childhood friends mention two of their classmates in their class and Rin let his eyes glide through the darkness to look at the two silhouettes of his silent classmates. They put him off, not just because of their silence but also because of their flames. Rin's eyes would dance over the flames that made up the two and couldn't help but question the intensity of the two. One in particular, the one that seemed to always have a hood up, he could compare their flames to his brother's. They seemed brighter, stronger in power-wise. From what he could gather, the owner of the flames was rather free spirited if the wild flickers of the flames said anything.

"Sorry we're late!"

Rin blinked and turned away from the two figures to instead look in the direction he heard Shiemi's voice come from. He watched as she and Izumo seemed to get closer to where they were all waiting to begin the mission, and Rin couldn't help but notice that Shiemi's silhouette had changed slightly. Her outfit must have been different then usual since he could make out her legs and it seemed like the skirt was shorter.

Her heard the other boys next to him gasp. Shima spoke up when Izumo and Shiemi came up to them.

"Moriyama, what happened to your kimono?" He asked, his fingers under his nose and a goofy smile on his face.

"Ah, well a kimono isn't fit for missions, so the Principle assigned me a uniform." Shiemi replied with a nervous laugh. "We're late because Kamiki had to help show me how to put it on."

Izumo huffed at her words, turning away from Shiemi when she gave her a smile.

"I hope it's not too weird." Shiemi mumbled nervously. Rin listened to the other boys voice their approvals, but Rin just gave her a smile.

"I'm sure it looks great, Shiemi."

Shiemi flushed at the praise she was getting, shocked that even Rin bothered to comment on her outfit even when she new it had no impact on him.

"T-Thank you!" She squeaked out.

Yukio coughed, gaining his class' attention. "Now that you're all here, let me assign you all into pairs for this mission. Miwa and Takara. Yamada and Moriyama. Suguro and Rin. Kamiki and Shima. For this mission, you are to search and find the ghost that had been reported causing damage here in Mepphyland. Once you find it, you are to either inform me through my cell phone or Mr. Tsubaki."

"How many ghosts are there?" Konekomaru asked, raising his hand.

"Only one," Yukio replied. "However there have been reports from all over the park. It takes the appearance of a small boy. It's known for only doing small childish pranks, but if we leave it be, there is a chance there could be more victims or the pranks could get worse."

"With this many people, it should be easy to find." Suguro mumbled as he went to stand next to Rin.

"Any questions?" Yukio asked once the full situation was explained. No one replied. "Good."

* * *

Suguro and Rin walked side by side as they looked over their section of the park. Suguro had his eyes both on their surrounding and Rin, who could feel the other's gaze on him. He could understand why he was being watched closely, most likely due to the fact that not only does Suguro know what he is, but also because of the lack of Kuro today.

Rin thought that Kuro deserved some time with Shiro and he figured this would be a chance to show he can do things alone. It took awhile to convince his brother and Kuro that he would be find, and he figured the only reason it was decided he could go without Kuro was because not only would Yukio be there but also because they would be put together in pairs. Obviously, there was no option about the cane for him.

It didn't surprise him that he was paired with Suguro. Yukio probably saw it safe to pair him with Suguro just in case something happened that would make him show his abilities, but Rin doubted that. He could tell the other still had a few worries when it came to his blood, but most of it was washed away so if anything Suguro was back to being an annoying mother hen.

"You really don't need to watch me so closely right?" Rin huffed, his eyes glancing to the silhouette besides him before returning to the darkness before him. He didn't need to look that closely. He know that should the demon appear, he'd see its flames.

"Like I trust you to watch out for yourself." Suguro replied crossing his arms.

"Oi! I'll have you know that I'll be just fine! It's why I have this!" Rin waved his cane in the air, only to suddenly trip on an uneven edge of the pathway.

Suguro's arm snapped out and grabbed Rin's arm before he could fall. "Yeah, you're definitely fine."

"Oh, shut up rooster!" Rin growled. "That was just bad luck."

"Yeah right! And I'm not a rooster you monkey!" Suguro snapped back, but a smirk twitched on his lips at the familiar banter. He thought he wouldn't be this comfortable around the half-demon now that he knew his secret, but as far as he could tell, Rin was the same as always.

Rin himself had a smile on his face at the banter as well. It was nice to see his worries unfounded. This gave him a little more confidence and he was even debating about telling the rest of the class, but it was a maybe. He wasn't completely confident, in fact the fear he still had overruled the confidence he had gained.

Rin opened his mouth to respond when he caught sight of a light, flaming and small silhouette in the distance. Suguro must have seen it to, because he was suddenly calling out to Rin and they were racing toward the figure.

Rin staggered a little behind Suguro as they ran, but kept up nonetheless. Anytime he knocked into something he focused on regaining his balance so he wouldn't fall and slow them down. The ghost must have disappeared into a building because suddenly the only form in sight was Suguro, so Rin focused on following him.

"It went into this building over here!" Suguro shouted as he rushed into the park attraction, pulling his phone out to be read to call one of the teachers when they saw it again. He turned the corner in the doorway, not realizing that he had stepped into a maze of mirrors until he realized Rin was no longer behind him.

Rin went to go after him when Suguro suddenly vanished from his vision, causing him to curse and stop running. He couldn't risk running into something and while he knew Suguro would be in whatever building he had spotted, he knew that there was little chance of him finding him without the building being relatively simple.

Placing his cane on the ground, Rin began to try to find his way to an area he would be able to spot the others from. However, after only a few steps, a flash of blue caught the corner of his eye before he felt Kurikara get yanked off of his shoulder.

"Hey!" Rin shouted, turning in the direction of the pull and came face to face with an incredibly bright silhouette. He jerked back with a cry, stumbling over his feet as he tried to gather his bearings. He kept his gaze on the silhouette before him, the demon's flames incredibly bright with power and seem to wave childishly.

"Hmm…" The demon hummed, gazing at the half-demon before him from perch on the nearby bench. Amaimon gazed at the teen's foggy eyes, the glow around them growing when they seemed to focus before fading slightly. "I see. Brother really did hurt you badly, no wonder father hurt him so much."

"W-Who are you!?" Rin cried, eyes flickering over the demon before him. His eyes fell swiftly to the demon's hands and from the way they were curled, he figured his sword was there. "And give that back!"

Amaimon tilted his head, pursing his lips before answering. "I'm Amaimon, Demon King of earth. I'm one of your older brothers." He leaned forward, getting rather close to Rin's face as he spoke. "Astaroth really hurt you, huh?"

"H-Huh!" Rin cried, eyes widening at the words. His mind flashed back to that day he was hurt. He remembered, vaguely, through the pain he felt at that time the name Astaroth being spoken. He remembered how he was called brother and how they wanted him to come "home". He started trembling at the memory, only to be snapped out of it when his world suddenly exploded into blue fire. He cried out at the sudden brightness, his hands coming up to cover his eyes.

Amaimon blinked with curiosity when Rin suddenly cried out when he opened the sword. He thought, for a few moments, that it was because of the sudden rush of demon power in his veins, but then he noticed that Rin was trying to cover his eyes while blinking repeatedly.

Tilting his head, Amaimon sheathed the sword once again and watched as Rin paused and blinked once again. Curiosity filling his being, Amaimon continued to sheath and unsheath the sword, watching as his half-demon brother eventually gave up on letting his eyes adjust and just covered them, Rin being overwhelmed with the constant shifting with his vision.

"I see." Amaimon hummed. "So your flames do help you, but because they keep you powers locked up, you can't let them help you. That's so mean."

"Please stop!" Rin cried out with a growl. Usually the shift with his eyesight is fine, but the constant, non-stop shifting was giving him a headache along with the power of his demon blood flowing through his body. "Just stop and choose something already!"

"Oh?" Amaimon mumbled, watching his brother. "Then I choose...open!"

With that he pulled the sword completely from the sheath.

Rin huffed as the constant opening and closing of his sword was ended, and he cautiously opened his eyes. He found his sight covered by varying shades of blue and black, trailing over all the tall structures of the amusement park that he could now see. His eyes fell back onto the demon that started this and took in his laidback appearance. Baring his now demonic teeth, Rin growled.

"Give me back my sword!"

Amaimon tilted his head once again and hummed. "Hmm...I don't think so. I'm bored, so I decided to see if you would be fun to play with. Play with me, and you might get your sword back."

"Why you-!" Rin growled jumping to tackle the other demon only for Amaimon to leap out of the way. Amaimon lead Rin towards the rollercoaster and was soon climbing up the bars that made up the structure. Rin chased after him, his eyes glowing as they were able to keep track of the things around him for the time being.

He leapt at Amaimon again, only to be pushed back by a hand, the force sanding him flying hard into the beam behind him. He coughed from the impact and braced himself as Amaimon flew at him. He tried to catch the older demon's punch, but it ended with his hand being slammed into the metal above his head. Rin cried out and with a growl and kicked out, making Amaimon jump back and unpin his hand from where his had been.

Rin charged once again at Amaimon, a fist raised to punch the Demon King, but just as Amaimon went to block the punch, Rin raised his other hand to swipe at the sword. Amaimon was still quick to react though, flipping and kicking Rin in the stomach, sending him flying off of the structure and to the ground. Amaimon leapt down after him, tilting his head as he spoke.

"I can kind of see why father and our brothers are so interested in you." Amaimon hummed. "You kind of know how to play, but I don't know-Oh!" Amaimon leapt back as flames hit the grown where he was just standing. A smile came on his face. "Well, now it's gotten more fun!"

* * *

Suguro finally found his way out of the maze and was already on the phone, talking to Yukio.

"I really don't know where either of them have gone!" He exclaimed. While the ghost being lost made their mission go on longer, Suguro was really worried for Rin. When he had made it out of the maze, he quickly raced around the area in hopes of finding the half-demon, but he came up empty. The only thing he had been able to find out of place was Rin's cane.

 _"He wouldn't run off, not without a good reason_ _."_  Yukio spoke through the phone but even then Suguro could still hear the small pitches of worry in his voice.

"I know but-" He was cut off when a large explosion sounded from further into the park. Looking towards it, he couldn't help but watch the smoke that slowly vanished into the air as if nothing had happened. "Mr. Okumura, I think I know where Rin is."

 _"I know, I saw it too."_  Yukio replied.  _"Head over there, I'll be there soon. Hopefully Rin hasn't gotten into too much trouble."_

Meanwhile, across the park in another area, Shiemi and Yamada stared at the smoke in concern.

"Do you think that was any one?" Shiemi asked nervously, scared her friends had been hurt.

Yamada didn't answer, only turning and running swiftly in the direction of the explosion. Shiemi was frozen for a second before trying to follow her classmate, only to find they were long out of sight.

* * *

Amaimon grinned as he dodged another swipe from Rin. While this wasn't even an easy version of demon games, he had to admit Rin's ability to follow his instincts was impressive. Clearly, he has yet to even give into the idea of playing like demons do, but the way his hands and his movements were were close enough to the idea that Amaimon was intrigued.

If Rin had grown up in Gehenna, Amaimon had no doubt that they would be playing roughly-like real demons-but Rin had not been raised by demons in Gehenna. No, he had been trapped here and left to deal with the aftermath.

He had to admit, Amaimon did see what made Rin so interesting. He wondered what he would be like if he didn't have to worry about his vision. Not that Amaimon had sheathed the sword yet, no, but that was still a factor.

Amaimon tackled Rin to the ground and easily held him down. Humming he observed the teen beneath him. "Otouto isn't even playing correctly. Hmm...maybe if I break the sword things will be better. I'm sure father and our brothers would be happy with that." He held both hands on the flaming blade, the fire not even affecting him.

"No-!"

"Sever the head of the snake," A voice spoke, breaking through to the two demons, both turning to look at the hooded figure who brought forth a sword from their chest. "That devours the eight princesses!"

Rin watched as the hooded figure, Yamada if he had to guess from the flames, jumped down and knocked Amaimon away from him. They pushed Rin behind them, his beaten figure panting as he watched the exchange between the two.

"You're Amaimon, Demon King of earth right?" Yamada spoke up, gaining the demon's attention."How'd you get into the Academy? Mephisto let you in, am I right?"

"You're in the way!" Amaimon pouted, not liking the way this person stood between him and his brother.

"No, I think you're the one in the way." Yamada replied, brandishing their sword.

Amaimon frowned, his eyes trailing from the hooded person to his brother who was panting from their game. With a huff, Amaimon grabbed the sheath from where it had been lying and sheathed the sword. He watched the brightness dull in Rin's eyes as he threw the sword at them.

"Fine, until next time!" With that he he leapt away.

Rin watched as his vision faded once again and collapsed to his knees in front of his sword. Reaching out slowly, he gently grasped Kurikara and brought it closer to his chest.

"You alright?" Yamada asked, and Rin gave them a small nod. Yamada seemed to hesitate for a moment before turning away and shouting. "You better hide your tail before the other's get here!"

With that he was gone.

Rin sat there, his mind processing everything that had just happened. He was once again attacked by a demon king, once again put in danger as well as endangering the people he knew. He lost Kurikara because he couldn't react fast enough and wasn't strong enough. His body felt heavy and he could feel the ache in his bones that his demonic healing couldn't cure. His tail was limb behind him, but it slowly started to twist underneath his shirt when he thought about it.

His mind was just running and replaying everything that had happened and he looked up sharply when he heard a person kneel next to him.

"Oi, Okumura! Are you alright?! What happened?" Suguro asked, eyes wide as he took in the beaten appearance of his classmate. He had followed the sounds of the fights but by the time he had reached him, all he saw was someone running off and Rin kneeling on the ground.

Rin shook his head, opening his mouth to give some sort of response but nothing came out. Suguro was about to speak again when Yukio came running towards them from somewhere to their left.

"Rin! What happened?!" Yukio shouted as he, too, knelt down next to his brother. He glanced over at Suguro. "Did you see anything that happened?"

Suguro shook his head. "No. I was hoping this idiot would tell me but he's been quiet since I got here."

Yukio frowned. "Rin, tell me what happened, now."

Rin shook his head. "It's nothing, I'm fine. It's over now, so why does it matter?"

"Rin, you got attacked! Of course it matters! What if this happens again!?" Yukio shouted. "Rin, this is something important for me to know, and I thought we agreed you would tell me important things!"

"I know...but it's over now!" Rin shot back. He was still upset he had been unable to defend himself against Amaimon, and if he couldn't then what would it matter if Yukio knew.

"The kid was attacked by a Demon King." A voice that Rin recognized as the person who saved him. They all looked in the direction of the voice and saw Yamada walking towards them. They tilted their head towards Yukio and put a hand on their hips. "You sure took your time getting here Yukio."

"Who-!" Suguro was about to shout but Yukio held up his hand and narrowed his eyes at the hooded figure.

"I didn't realize you were spying in on my class, Shura." Yukio spoke up after he recognized the voice after a few moments.

"Ah, at least I don't have to wear this stupid disguise anymore." She huffed and pulled the hoodie over her head. Rin watched at the hoodie disappeared from view and instead stood a different silhouette with the same flames as before. However, what he didn't see, that the other two did, was the fact that she unwrapped her chest and Suguro blushed at the lack of shirt she had.

Purple eyes glinted as Shura smiled. "Shura Kirigakure, Upper-First class exorcist at your service."


End file.
